A Journey of Love
by DreamPrisoner
Summary: Yako doesn't realise her feelings for Neuro just yet, but she will. Through this story Yako and Neuro will learn their true feelings, even if it takes some time.
1. Chapter One: Coincidence

I do not own Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro

I'm trying my hardest to stay in character so I apologise If I slip on any of them. I'd love to have your reviews on my fan fiction as this is my first shot at it.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Yako stopped for a few moments before entering the office; in that time she had prepared herself for whatever trap awaited her behind the office door, or so she thought. However, like always she was caught completely off guard.

The offence came from her right. Neuro's hand clamped over Yako's head and she was pushed to the ground, her face leaving a deep print in the floor tiles.

"You're late." Neuro exclaimed and released Yako. He then crossed his arms and leant back against the plain walls of the office. Yako for once had no excuse for her bad punctuality and she knew lies wouldn't work on Neuro so instead she remained quiet and examined herself for any new wounds.

Neuro didn't push the matter but made his way over to his desk, past a wide eyed Godai who was leaning forward in his chair, most likely toying with the idea of phoning an ambulance.

"I'm alright.' Yako reassured Godai, who didn't seem convinced. Neuro held back a sigh, he'd thought that by now Godai would have been used to this, Yako wasn't easy to bruise.

Neuro got seated and propped his legs up on the desk lazily. "You wouldn't believe how calm everything has been today," He wasn't smiling. "I would've hoped a mystery would show itself by now." He tucked a dark strand of hair behind his ear, not that he needed to, Yako had never seen Neuro's hair get in the way of his work before.

Yako was watching Neuro from across the room; he'd taken up a newspaper and was scanning it for any new mysteries that may have arisen.

As little as she liked to admit it, Yako often took pleasure in watching her boss; he was so unlike anyone she'd ever met before, even down to the hair on his head.

Neuro's eyes drifted up from the newspaper and met Yako's. "What is it louse?" Yako's cheeks turned scarlet and her gaze darted away, she searched for something to distract her.

Godai was becoming more agitated as he watched the exchange; whatever was going on between those two was not something he wanted to be in the middle of.

Feeling slightly sick to the stomach Godai decided to leave the room and find peace somewhere else. He stood and tucked his cell phone neatly into his trouser pocket.

"I'm... erm..." He struggled for an excuse to leave the office and after a long pause Neuro finished the sentence for him.

"Going to get a drink so that your pea of a brain can work hard enough to satisfy your master's needs." Godai struggled with the temptation to curse Neuro and muttered. "Yea, that." He then left the office.

Neuro went back to his search as usual, leaving Yako with a small mystery of her own.

What was she meant to do now? Yako spotted a pile of detective books on Godai's desk and figuring that he'd never need them she decided to do some revision.

She took the books up in her arms and sat on the couch opposite Godai's desk, relaxing her arms and trying to ignore her headache, which was slowly growing worse.

Yako opened the book and began reading, she'd heard from Akane that Neuro often read detective books but that he never finished them due to his figuring out the mystery before the book revealed the criminal; Yako wondered if Neuro had read these yet.

After reading for a couple of minutes she put the book down. She liked to read, maybe not as much as she enjoyed a good meal, but still she enjoyed reading.

The problem was the office was so unusually quiet. Since she'd first come here something was always going on, only now when everything was calm she realised how much she missed the chaos of this place.

Yako closed her eyes and lay back on the couch, exhaling slowly. The throbbing that surrounded her forehead hadn't died down.

Yako gave in and got to her feet. She was sure she wouldn't be missed from the office and while making as little noise as possible she crept toward the door.

Just as her hand closed around the door handle she felt two large hands on either of her shoulders. "Where does my louse think she's going?" Neuro spoke with both a hint of amusement and disapproval in his voice.

Yako didn't dare turn around or even move for that matter. "I was well," She realised that stuttering out the explanation would only make Neuro more irritated with her and so she built up some courage and began again. "I have a headache so I thought I'd leave early, It didn't seem like you needed me here."

"Foolish servant," The smile Neuro so often wore rose on one side. "You should know by now that you can't leave work without my permission." Yako was growing uncomfortable with Neuro's hands on her shoulders but she dreaded what would happen if she removed them.

Godai made his way back to the office, mumbling insults at Neuro under his breath and juggling a can of Pepsi in his hand.

Yako heard the door opening too late; it collided with her back and she stumbled forward. From instinct she closed her eyes and held her hands up in front of her face waiting for the impact of the fall.

However, when she realised it wasn't going to come she opened her eyes and gasped. She was lying in Neuro's lap, his hand lightly curving round the top of her head protectively. He was looking down at her with an expression Yako had never seen him wear before, it was one of worry.

The expression cleared quickly though, replaced with a deep fury. Neuro practically shoved Yako off him and stood, grabbing Godai by the head and slamming his face into the wall.

"Ah, God." Godai grunted and rubbed his nose. "Hey, it wasn't my fault." He really hated Neuro sometimes, gees the guy should take some anger management classes.

Yako was stunned; she hadn't moved a muscle from where she sat on the floor. Had Neuro actually been worried for her?

Neuro was already sat back at his desk by this time, the anger clearing from his eyes. "Servant number one, stop slacking."

Yako blindly followed his orders as her own thoughts were a blank; she resigned in taking up the books again and having a second try at reading them.

After a few minutes Godai came over to where Yako sat, he took a packet of crisps out from behind his back and held them in front of Yako; it was enough to pull her from the trance Neuro had left her in.

"Look, I'm sorry alright. I got these from downstairs. I was going to eat them myself, but I'm not all that hungry." He dropped the packet in Yako's lap and in return she gave him such a look of gratitude he had to take a couple of steps back.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Yako had only just gotten used to the idea of her mum being back home, and it was bliss. She couldn't understand why people were always complaining about their parents, now that her mum was back she didn't need to cook dinner every night! She collapsed back on her bed with a large Its-good-to-be-home sigh.

"Yako, dinner!" Her mum called from downstairs and Yako jumped up and darted for the door.

Her school bag was lying inconveniently on the second to last step and succeeded in tripping her over, much to Yako's distaste. She flew forward and smacked her head on the floor, the ground shuddering and causing a pile of jackets fall off their hooks and land on Yako's head.

Her head always seemed to get hurt and if Neuro wasn't the cause something else would be.

When Yako removed the jackets, which she was buried under, she was greeted by her mum, who was in fits of laughter. "Yako your," She struggled to say anything through the haul of giggles that were now flowing from her lips. "Your dinner's getting cold."

Yako got up and brushed herself down. She then set off to find her food, ignoring her mum but smiling anyway at how clumsy she must be to trip over her school bag.

When both mother and daughter had finished their fifth helpings of dinner, Yako didn't get her love of food from her dad, Yako's mum gestured to the mobile, which was sat across the table.

"Your friend Kanae called," She smiled. "I told her you'd call her back after dinner." Yako thanked her mum and took up the mobile. What could Kanae want; didn't she have another date today?

Yako dialled Kanae's number and held the phone up to her ear. "Hello? Yako is that you?" The usual chime of Kanae's voice hit Yako like the sweet smell of flowers.

"Hello Kanae, you called earlier. Was it important?"

"Was it important? When has anything concerning you not been important?" She waited a few moments and then carried on "Well anyway, let's cut to the chase. I'm bringing you with me and some other friends down to the beach next Saturday, how does that sound?"

Yako had no room to argue so instead she agreed to the trip; Neuro wouldn't mind her absence for a little while, not that Yako intended to tell him her plans.

"It sounds good, I can't wait." Yako's mother was now clearing the table of plates.

"I'll give you the details tomorrow; you'll love it I promise." Yako could hear Kanae's excitement from across the line. "Bye for now." Yako heard the familiar buzz from her cell indicating the call had ended.

It was already dark and Yako was struggling to keep her eyes open so she pushed her chair back and set off for bed. "Night mum; I'm going to bed before I pass out." She hurried upstairs.

Yako cleaned herself up and got changed into her pyjamas before diving into bed. She curled her toes up under the covers and closed her eyes.

The first image that popped into Yako's mind was one of Neuro. Neuro of all people; His large smile teasing her.

"Argh!" Yako pulled a pillow over her head and rolled over in bed. "How am I supposed to sleep now?"


	2. Chapter Two: Soaking

I do not own Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro.

I thought this chapter wasn't as well written as my first but it's acceptable. Sorry if anyone thought Yako was out of character, she seemed a bit overly confident with Neuro at the start. Please give reviews.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Saturday had finally arrived and Yako was not prepared. She rushed around the room like a mad thing, with no idea what to wear.

After half an hour of searching she gave up and tugged on her favourite jeans and the first t-shirt she could find in her drawers. She then slipped a headband into her hair and took a look in the mirror. Not bad, she wasn't yet model material but it could be worse.

Yako grabbed her bag which had all the necessities inside, including a medical kit and some sun crème, then set off. Her mum drove her to the train station, during that time Yako had been examining her ticket till she learned every word written on it off by heart, lame right?

When Yako arrived at the train station she grabbed her bag and got out of the car. "Bye mum," Before her mum could say anything Yako added. "I promise I will keep safe and not go off with any strangers." Her mum nodded and waved.

"Bye honey."

Yako was still waving as the car rolled away, this would be the first time she'd leave her mum for more than a couple of hours since she came back, she wasn't sure if she was happy or sad about that.

When she turned around though, she regretted ever getting out of the car. Neuro stood with a large bag slung over his shoulder, wearing the same blue suit and mischievous smile he always did.

Yako's jaw dropped. "What are you doing here?" She questioned him, narrowing her eyes slightly.

Neuro grabbed Yako by the head and dragged her over. "A little birdie told me that my louse decided she could keep important information from her master." His grip tightened and Yako yelped.

"Important information, what are you talking about?" She tried to prize his hand from her head with no success. That idiot Neuro, you'd think he'd get bored tormenting people by now.

"Have we not covered this already? I told you before; you must ask your masters permission before leaving work, or missing it completely." He frowned at her, a rare expression for Neuro. "So, I decided to tag along as punishment." He rubbed his knuckles against her head.

"Ok, alright, I get it!" She shoved his hand away and stormed off. Unfortunately, a stray banana skin lay in the path of her fury and when her foot finally collided with it she skidded roughly half a mile forward, exaggeration included, almost smashing into multiple groups of people and ending up diving head first into Kanae.

"Ow." Why does this always happen to me? Yako wondered and she got up. Kanae threw her arms around Yako in a full bear hug. "I can't trust you alone for one second, can I?" Kanae shook her head and chuckled lightly.

"Well actually, I'm not alone." Neuro placed his hands on Yako's shoulders and Yako scowled.

"Sensei said I could tag along." Neuro smiled without showing any teeth and he squeezed Yako's shoulders. "Isn't that right sensei?"

Yako looked up at Neuro. "I did? Oh, oh, yes I did" Yako nodded at Kanae. "I hope that's ok?" Kanae linked arms with Yako and began walking her and Neuro over to a small crowd of people.

"The more the merrier." Kanae smiled. "You'll both have a great time." Yako wasn't so sure about that now Neuro was here.

Yako felt a slight pull on the bottom of her jeans and she looked down; a small boy of maybe six years old was looking up at her with wide eyes. "Hello there." Said Yako calmly. She was immediately charmed by the child.

"You look stupid." The child said, pushing a small pair of glasses further up his nose. Did I say charmed? Neuro chuckled and grinned at the kid. Yako was sure those two would make good friends.

Kanae ruffled the young boy's hair. "Don't be mean." She scolded the child. "Sorry Yako, this is my cousin. He's going to come to the beach with us, you don't mind do you?" Great, just great. This trip couldn't get any better, Yako thought sarcastically.

One of the group approached Yako and took her hand in both of his, he was tall with a rather red nose and a full head of ginger hair. "It's a pleasure to meet you, I'm Jiro" He shook her hand a little too warmly and she could feel the sweat off his palms stick to hers. "We'll become good friends." Yako already wanted out.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Kanae shoved open the doors of a nearby hotel. It looked clean enough, there was paint peeling off in one corner of the ceiling but other than that the place looked fresh and modern. The group, which consisted of one six year old child, three girls, two men and one demon, made their way to the check-in desk.

A friendly man, who was only a few inches taller than Yako, greeted the group at the counter. "Good afternoon, may I help you?" He asked, his eyes moving over each of the customers approvingly.

Neuro wrapped his hand around Yako's waist and pulled her closer, his smile not yet in-human but getting larger. "One double room please." Yako shoved him off and leaned forward on the counter.

"He means a twin." Yako elbowed Neuro.

After everything was settled the group split up and went to their individual rooms. Kanae was sharing the room with her cousin, who Yako recently discovered was called Akio, and his sister Honoka. The two brothers, one of which was the "friendly" ginger haired Jiro that Yako had met earlier, were also paired together in a room. Like always though, Yako was stuck with Neuro.

When Yako got to her room she dropped her bag on the bed and turned to Neuro. "What was all that about?" She had caught him off guard, a smile hung on his face and his pupils were so small they were almost unnoticeable, but when he began speaking his face flashed back to normal.

"How am I supposed to sleep comfortably with those fools around?" He sat on his single bed and stretched his legs out with a sigh.

"No, I mean the stuff about the double bed." Neuro thought back for a moment.

"That was me being kind; you'd get a double bed all to yourself." Yako wished it were that simple but Kanae would tease her for months afterwards, maybe even years. The humiliation would be too much.

There was a knock at the door and when Yako opened it Honoka stood in the hall, a shy smile on her face. "Kanae wanted me to tell you guys that we'll be going down to the beach early tomorrow. So we'll see you then?"

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Yako was definitely in her element. She was wearing a pair of shorts and a sleeveless top. Kanae had also forced a sun hat on Yako's head saying it was absolutely necessary. Everyone wondered how someone could be so excited. The truth was, Yako didn't get out much and everything was so fascinating, it just had to be explored.

Though the sand burned her feet it felt wonderful, everything did, the heat seemed to hug her and she wanted to try out the water already. Yako, Honoka, Kanae and Akio made their way to the changing rooms where Yako changed into her usual plain blue swimming costume and tied up her hair.

However, as Yako stepped out of her cubical she was pulled back by Kanae. "There is no way I'm letting you wear that old thing." She said with strong disapproval in her voice and shoved Yako back into the changing room, throwing an outfit in afterward and closing the door on her. "You're not allowed out till you change."

Yako took the outfit and held it up only to drop it instantly. It was a pale pink frill bikini, the top half joined by a small silver ring. Kanae couldn't be serious. "Kanae, did you give me the wrong outfit?"

"What does it look like?"

Yako gulped and replied. "Pink, with frills." She hoped Kanae couldn't hear the blush in her voice.

"That's right. Put it on already." Yako shook her head in disbelief. No, this couldn't be happening. She wished she'd never come now, the beach suddenly didn't seem so appealing to her anymore. How could she show herself in this thing? It was so embarrassing.

Yako had no choice in the matter; Kanae wouldn't let her leave without the bikini on. So Yako swallowed her fear and stripped out of her comfortable swim suit, swapping it for the bikini.

Finally Kanae let Yako out. "See, that looks so much better on you." Kanae linked arms with Yako and walked out of the changing rooms. Although they were linking arms Yako was more concerned with using Kanae as a human shield, she felt all eyes burning into her back.

Outside they met with Honoka and Akio who were holding hands, which Yako could tell was an uncommon thing for Akio by the way he tried to twist his hand out of Honoka's hold. Honoka was wearing a pretty grey swim suit; If it was ok for her to be wearing that why was I stuck in this thing? Thought Yako.

The two brothers met up with the girls soon after. Everyone was here except for Neuro; Yako figured he'd be waiting somewhere to torment her.

The others split up, leaving Yako by herself. While Kanae sun bathed Honoka took Akio to go swimming. Yako couldn't wait to get in the water so she went to join up with Honoka and Akio. The water was freezing, Yako gradually tried to get her body used to the cold, it seemed imposable at first but as time went by she found it easier and eventually she was submerged up to her chest.

Yako ducked under the water just far enough for her bikini top to be completely hidden from everyone's vision. Wearing it wasn't as bad as she'd expected but it still needed some getting used to. She looked back at Kanae and her newly met friends. Jiro had come into the water and was talking happily with Honoka while Akio pretended he was a shark. Yako smiled.

Just then a cascade of freezing cold water came down on top of Yako's head.


	3. Chapter Three: Jealous

I do not own Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro.

This is my favourite Chapter so far; it was fun to write and I don't think I strayed on characteristics all that much. Neuro x Yako fans, including me, Kaori isn't going to get in the way so don't stress out. I don't think I'd be able to let Yako be with anyone but Neuro. Also, sorry for all the time skipping.

Reviews please.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Yako opened her mouth to scream from shock but a large, gloved hand clamped over her lips, stopping her before she could make a sound. So Neuro was behind this?

She pulled away from Neuro and spun around. He was grinning, holding an empty bucket in one hand. What caught Yako's eye though was what Neuro was wearing. He was completely naked except for a pair of swimming trunks which he wore well; considering it was the first time Yako had seen him in anything but his casual blue suit.

Yako's eyes travelled over Neuro. "Neuro, what are you wearing?" She asked.

"You don't like it?" His grin grew wider. "I couldn't get my suit wet now could I? Stupid servant." He leaned closer to her, his eyes sparkling.

Yako shook her head nervously. "No, I don't dislike it." She blushed and added. "It's just unusual to see you wearing something like this." Unusual was an understatement. Yako had a hard time keeping her eyes on Neuro's face; the sun was reflecting off his bare chest and his skin seemed to sparkle.

Neuro took Yako's chin in his fingers and tilted her face upwards; Yako caught her breath for a moment. Was he going to kiss her?

"What were you doing just now?" He asked suspiciously.

"What are you talking about?" Yako asked and was surprised at herself when she heard a hint of disappointment in her voice. Of course Neuro wasn't going to kiss her, why would he? She reasoned.

"You were crouching down in the water; but why?" He raised his eyebrow in curiosity. Yako blushed again and dropped her eyes, how could she tell him that she was embarrassed to wear a bikini? Didn't lots of girls wear them?

"Well, erm," Yako bit her lip and looked up into Neuro's eyes. If she was going to say it she should say it as soon as possible. She took a deep breath and proceeded to tell Neuro the whole story.

When she finished there was a moment of awkward silence before Neuro began to chuckle, then his lungs exploded with laughter. Yako stepped back and narrowed her eyes. Was he teasing her?

"Louse, if that's all your worried about don't bother yourself with it," He ruffled her hair with his free hand. "Not even a human man would look at you in that way." So he was teasing her. Yako huffed and made her way out of the water, what a waste of a wonderful day.

Yako made up for Neuro's insult by treating herself to three chocolate ice creams, yum.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Everyone was back in their rooms except for Yako; she was stuck on the toilet, the three ice creams she had eaten earlier had proven too much for her stomach to take, which was unusual considering she had eaten ten times more than that before.

Once she'd finished on the toilet she washed her hands and rushed out to catch up with the others. As she came out she thought she caught the silhouette of a man in the corner of her eyes and looked over her shoulder, just to make sure.

Standing outside, leant against a brick wall was Jiro's brother. He looked lost in thought. Yako's curiosity took over and she went to see what was up.

As Yako walked toward the man she realised how little he resembled his brother. This man had black hair, dark brown eyes, no freckles and he certainly wasn't as energetic. In fact, after all that had happened Yako still didn't even know his name.

"Hello?" When she greeted him it came out more like a question. Jiro's brother didn't even turn his head to look at Yako, though she thought she heard him sigh irritably.

"You're the piggish detective aren't you?" He asked, he had an authoritative voice, it somehow made Yako feel safe.

"Well yes and no" She replied. She wasn't exactly piggish, she just enjoyed a small meal now and then; according to Yako anyway.

He tilted his head toward her and looked her in the eye. "Listen, you either are or you're not; so which is it?"

Yako felt like a rabbit caught in headlights. "I am." She answered almost mechanically.

"That's better," He said and stood up straight. "Anyway, I don't have time to chat. See you around." He started to leave.

"Wait!" Yako called, taking a couple of steps after him. Jiro's brother stopped and turned back.

"Yes?"

"What's your name?" That had been bugging Yako the whole time. What was his name? Why had no body spoken of it before?

He smiled and Yako's heart skipped a beat. "Kaori, but don't tell any-one. Only you have a right to call me by my true name." He then left Yako and went up to his room.

Neuro frowned as he watched Yako from the window. She was talking with the ginger haired man's brother and he didn't like it. Yako was looking at the human boy a little too fondly and he disliked the way the boy talked to her, he didn't know what he disliked about it he just knew that he wanted Yako to stay away from that human.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

That night Yako couldn't sleep. The bed seemed too warm, her legs were tangled in the covers, she could feel her hair in a mess on the top of her head and her eyes were sore. The only thing that calmed her down was watching Neuro as he slept.

He was sleeping on the ceiling to the left of Yako's bed. Yako had refused to allow Neuro to sleep over her bed again after what happened last time.

Neuro looked almost normal when he slept. With his eyes closed and mouth shut, the only strange feature he had was his hair. It was strange how his hair never got tangled, unlike Yako's. She groaned uncomfortably.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Neuro awoke to find Yako sprawled across her bed, the covers were strewn on the floor and Yako was snoring lightly. Stupid servant can't even sleep right.

He landed on the floor without making a sound and walked over to Yako's bed. He bent down to take the bed cover up from where it lay on the floor and placed it over his servant's sleeping form.

Neuro took a moment to watch Yako as she slept. When she was lost in her dreams she'd always wear the most peaceful expression, it sometimes made Neuro feel guilty for calling her an insect. He smiled.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Yako spotted Jiro sitting alone in the hotel canteen. Yako had already cleared the canteen of its food that morning and so it was empty except for Honoka, Akio and Jiro. Akio had his small arms wrapped around Honoka's legs and was giving Yako evils from across the room and Jiro was watching Honoka with a look of awe on his face.

Yako took a seat next to Jiro and nudged his shoulder. "Why don't you just tell her you love her?" She asked. Jiro looked at Yako, shocked, then shook his head and chuckled.

"If only; but she's in love with my brother." Yako was now seeing a whole new side to Jiro. He was usually the happy, energetic and revolting Jiro she knew best but right now he didn't seem like that at all, he almost looked depressed.

"How do you figure that?" Asked Yako. She actually wished he were back like he used to be, this new Jiro gave Yako a cold feeling.

"Everyone loves brother." Jiro smiled and got up. He said goodbye to Yako and left the room. Yako watched Honoka and her brother for a while longer before leaving the canteen too.

She went upstairs to Kaori's room and knocked at the door. After a moment the door was opened and Kaori stood in the doorway, a half-smile on his lips. "Kaori, is Jiro alright?" Yako asked with genuine concern for her friend.

"Huh? Why shouldn't he be?" Kaori crossed his arms.

"It's nothing." Yako smiled. Kaori reached out with his hand and brushed underneath both Yako's eyes with his thumb.

"Yako, did you get any sleep last night?" Yako shook her head.

"I managed to get to sleep for a while but not at all long enough."

Kaori grinned. "If you ever find it hard to sleep again, drop by my room. You'll always be welcome to stay the night." Yako smiled but declined the offer saying she'd be fine. She then slowly backed away from his room.

Kaori laughed. "I was joking. Really though, if you can't sleep just come see me, ok?" Yako was about to say something in reply when Neuro's hand closed over Yako's shoulder.

"Sorry but sensei and I have somewhere to be." Neuro walked Yako away from Kaori's door.

"I'll catch you later." Kaori added as the two detectives left.


	4. Chapter Four: Consequences

I do not own Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro.

Sorry for my lack of Neuro x Yako in this chapter I will try to add more but I can't promise anything. There will definitely be more Neuro x Yako in the story but in the next chapter I can only see how it works itself out. At the moment I am completely improvising so we'll see.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

The floor came up to meet with Yako's face. Not again. Yako groaned and turned on her side; the shoe lay where it had before she'd tripped. It did serve her right for leaving her things on the floor.

Yako stuck her tongue out at the shoe and tossed it out of the way.

"Yako are you ready yet?" Kanae knocked at the door. "We're leaving in twenty minutes. Let me in."

"I'm almost ready." That was a lie, Yako was not ready at all, she was still in pyjamas and she probably had bags under her eyes. She got to her feet and went to open the door for Kanae.

"Oh my god. What have you been doing all this time?" Kanae pushed herself past Yako and looked at the mess in front of her. Drawers were left open and clothes covered the floor. "Don't tell me; you were looking for something to wear?" Yako shrugged.

Kanae shook her head. "No, this just won't do." She grabbed Yako's wrist and pulled her over to the dresser. Since there was nothing left in the drawers Kanae searched through the heaps of clothes before finally pulling out a pretty blue floral top, a pair of skinny jeans and some blue high heeled sandals and shoving them in Yako's outstretched arms.

"Put them on and then I'll do your makeup." Kanae stood outside while Yako got dressed.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

The group had decided to see a movie at a nearby cinema and were making their way there on foot. Akio looked exhausted, he'd much prefer going by car but his sister had insisted that she wanted to see more of the landscape and could only do that by walking. Akio rolled his eyes and slid his hand out of Honoka's only for it to be taken again. "If I let go, you'll wander off." Honoka warned.

Neuro had only agreed to see the movie with everyone else so he could watch over Yako. He couldn't let her do something stupid while he wasn't there to see it. Neuro noticed that Yako looked different, her eyes seemed larger and her cheeks rosier. He stared at her from the corner of his eye.

Yako was in a deep conversation with Kaori. "So what sort of movies do you like?" He asked and Yako took a moment to think about her answer.

"I suppose I like romances."

"You suppose?" Kaori looked her in the eye, demanding a more direct answer.

"I do like romances." Yako corrected herself. Kaori slipped his hands in his pockets and smiled.

"Yea, me too."

Neuro was beside Yako in an instant. "Sensei, we're here." He put his hand over her head and turned it in the direction of the cinema.

Yako looked surprised, had time passed that quickly already?

Kanae bought everyone a ticket to see 'Torture' a new horror movie that surrounded a young boy who had grown up tormented by demons. Yako knew the feeling.

Yako sat between Kanae and Kaori, Neuro was sat behind them and Akio had insisted he and Honoka sit at the back.

Neuro was definitely un-impressed with the movie. The lead was a weak hearted and boring boy that no real demon would have bothered themselves with. His eyes washed over Yako. She may be a relatively useless servant but at least she has spirit to her.

A demon appeared on the screen suddenly and screams erupted through the crowd, though Yako was unfazed, she picked at some popcorn and continued watching the movie as if nothing had happened. After all, Yako had lived with a demon appearing out of nowhere, on a daily basis, for about a year now. She'd gotten used to it already.

A few minutes passed and Neuro was about to go to sleep when he saw Kaori's hand slowly move over to Yako's.

"Sensei, how are you enjoying the movie?" Neuro stuck his head between Kaori and Yako; Kaori took his hand back in a lightning fast motion. Why was Yako's assistant always getting in the way?

"Huh?" Yako said, oblivious to anything and everything that had just gone on.

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"What are you doing louse?" Neuro asked lazily while lying on Yako's bed.

"Homework." She replied. She was sat on the floor with a pencil on one hand and a work sheet in the other. Neuro didn't think he'd ever seen her concentrate so much.

After around half an hour Yako gave up with a large sigh and put the paper and her pencil down. "What is it?" Neuro questioned Yako; prodding her in the back of the head to make sure she was paying attention.

"It's hopeless, I can't do it."

"Let me see that." He grabbed the paper and Yako yelped in protest. Neuro held the sheet up and tore it in two neat pieces.

"Hey!" Yako snatched both pieces off him and examined the damage closely. "Why did you do that?" She glared at him.

"Now you don't have to worry about it anymore." Neuro smiled.

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Honoka had finally gotten Akio to sleep; it was her only chance to speak with Kaori. Outside the hotel window she could see the sun disappearing behind grey clouds. It would have to be now that she confessed her feelings to him.

The last few days Kaori and Yako had been getting on Honoka's nerves. Honoka had known Kaori and his brother since childhood, Yako had known him for a few days. In the time Yako knew him she'd gotten closer to Kaori than Honoka ever had.

Hell, she wasn't even allowed to call him by his real name, 'Kaori', what a waste. Yako could call him that though, she'd heard them. Standing outside the building, she'd heard what he said to her. 'Kaori, but don't tell any-one. Only you have a right to call me by my true name' and the look in his eyes when he told her that was something he'd never showed Honoka. She shook her head.

She wouldn't give up, it wasn't over yet; she still had a chance to fight back. Her Kaori couldn't be serious about Yako, the girl he'd only just met; it wasn't possible.

Honoka made her way downstairs, confidence in her step. I won't lose, he'll realise I'm the best girl for him.

"Honoka, where are you going? Its dark already." Kanae stood at the top of the staircase, Honoka stopped mid step and turned around; a shy smile was plastered on her lips.

"I was just going to go outside, to get some fresh air. You know?" Kanae shrugged.

"Well, alright." Kanae was about to leave when something stopped her. "Are you ok Honoka? You look worried about something?" Honoka shook her head but Kanae was right, she was worried. She'd set herself up with false hope, still, it's worth a try.

"I'm fine." Honoka confirmed and Kanae left, content that her friend was well.

Honoka made her way down the rest of the steps quickly, she couldn't waste anymore time. Kaori might have already gone in by now.

However, when Honoka came out she saw Kaori; he was standing in his usual spot outside of the hotel. "Hello Honoka." He smiled at her. "What brings you here?"

Honoka forgot what she was going to say. "I just wanted to get some fresh air before I go to bed." Idiot, you blew your chance. Honoka scolded herself.

She went over to him. "It's cold, isn't it?"

"If you find it cold then go inside." Honoka mentally kicked herself; she knew she had to choose her words carefully with Kaori.

"Well, it's not that cold." She grinned helplessly, adding in a shy chuckle. She was so embarrassed it was going terribly. Honoka twiddled her thumbs nervously, waiting for the perfect moment to tell Kaori her feelings.

"Honoka," Kaori placed his hands on either side of her arms and looked her straight in the eye. "If you have something to tell me, say it."

Here, with Kaori's eyes locked on hers Honoka finally found her voice. "Kaori," A tear wavered in her eye. "Kaori I love you." She paused for a second and the continued. "I love you so much it hurts." She whipped tears away from her eyes.

"I want to be with you, you and nobody else." She wrapped her arms around Kaori's waist and her tears soaked into his shirt. They stood there for a moment before Kaori began to speak. "Honoka." He placed a hand lightly on the back of her head. "Honoka, don't cry."

Jiro clenched his fist, his whole body cold. He'd watched the whole exchange between Honoka and Kaori, seen everything. He was standing around the corner of the building from where the two, Honoka and Kaori, stood. They hadn't noticed him.

This had gone on for too long. He needed to stop it, once and for all. It was all a matter of time.


	5. Chapter Five: Mistake

I do not own Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro.

Loved righting the first part of this Chapter, the idea just came to me. I do know some of you would prefer Neuro as a different dog, god forbid a Chihuahua; German Shepherd was just my favourite. Sorry for any out of character-ness, new chapter will be out soon, hopefully.

Any reviews would be appreciated.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

"Here boy. Don't be shy." Yako knelt down, beaconing to the dog. It was a large German Shepherd, it had its head tipped to one side and it's tongue was hanging out. The dog approached Yako slowly, and when it came close enough Yako reached out her hand to the dog.

It sniffed for a moment and then began licking her hand playfully. Yako giggled and began to pet the dog running her fingers through its soft fur.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

"What do you think you're doing?" Neuro spoke with annoyance.

Yako's eyes flew open. What she saw she didn't at first believe. Neuro was sat beside her bed and, oh god; Yako had her hand buried in his hair. "Uh." She quickly removed her hand and tucked it under the covers, blushing with embarrassment. "I'm sorry; I thought you were a dog."

"How on earth did you mistake me for a dog?" Neuro narrowed his eyes at Yako.

"Well, I was dreaming about this dog and," She didn't really know what else to say so she changed the subject. "What were you doing beside my bed?" The tables are turned, now its Neuro's turn to explain himself, Yako mused.

"That's none of your business, louse." Neuro stood up.

"It is." Yako sat up in bed.

"What sort of dog was I?" The subject was changed again; at least it wasn't a question Yako couldn't answer. Anyway, it didn't really matter why Neuro was beside her bed; watching her sleep. Yako shuddered.

"German Shepherd." She answered. The sensation of Neuro's hair still lingering on her fingers; had she really just stroked him? Had he really just let her?

"Well, it could be worse." He leant over and stared Yako in the eyes. "If you ever dream me up as a Chihuahua I will tear off your limbs one by one." Yako pulled the bed covers further up, frightened for her life.

Yako's gasped when she heard the buzz of her mobile. She had been so worked up that that small noise had frightened her. Neuro grinned and straightened up. He took the cell phone in his hand. "Don't," Yako said, scared that Neuro would try to smash it. Instead though he accepted the call and held it to his ear.

"Hello this is Neuro Nougami speaking."

"Neuro, what are you doing on Yako's mobile?" Kanae asked but she didn't wait for an answer before she started speaking again. "Oh well. Anyway, me, you and the rest are going to a new American restaurant in half an hour; just to give you the heads up." Yako was slowly growing more irritated with Neuro; it was her mobile, not his.

"I'll be sure to tell Sensei." He shot a glance at her. "Alright Kanae, bye." Yako snatched her cell back off Neuro.

"Tell me what?"

Neuro grabbed Yako by her head and lifted her out of bed. He carried her over to her chest of drawers, grabbed the first clothes he could see and threw them over Yako's head. "That we have somewhere to be. So get changed."

Yako waited for Neuro to leave the room but he didn't. "Neuro, I'm about to get changed."

"Then hurry it up, we're running late."

"Yes, but I'm about to get changed." She slowed down her words, saying each syllable clearly. When it appeared Neuro wasn't going to move she added. "Could you please leave while I'm dressing."

"You only need to hide your body from people who are bothered enough to care." He said and smirked. Yako rolled her eyes and shoved him out of the room.

"It makes no difference." She slammed the hotel room door shut.

Yako got dressed quickly. She was eager to learn where she was going; she hoped it was somewhere nice.

Yako poked her head out of the door and looked around. Yes, she'd done the right thing shoving Neuro out of the room; but that doesn't mean Neuro saw it that way. He would probably be waiting somewhere to punish her.

Kanae dragged Yako out. "What are you up to? Everyone's waiting outside." Kanae shook Yako.

"Ahh." Kanae let go of Yako.

"Hurry up; get moving." She took Yako's wrist and pulled her downstairs and outside to where everyone was waiting. "I got her!" Kanae shouted over to the others. Yako was about to be sick, she'd been picked up by her head, dragged out of her room and now, pulled down a staircase.

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They'd taken a taxi to the restaurant since Akio had refused to go on foot anywhere ever again. Yako noticed Honoka had been acting differently today. She seemed separated from the rest of the group; she wasn't upset or happy either, Yako almost got the feeling that Honoka was waiting for something.

Akio was sat in front of Yako in the taxi. He had turned partly around and was watching Yako silently. It made her feel slightly uncomfortable but at least he wasn't glaring.

When the taxi finally pulled up outside Yako was the first one out. It had been such a long time since she'd had a large meal and she couldn't wait.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Everyone had ordered and were now sat comfortably around the table, waiting for the drinks and food to arrive. Yako was sat next to Neuro, it felt mildly irritating. The round table made it so that if Yako moved her leg even slightly it would collide with Neuro's and she was sure she didn't want that to happen.

Everyone was talking, laughs were shared and smiles were all around. Honoka made an origami swan from one of the napkins and gave it to Akio. Jiro was in the best mood Yako had ever seen him in, his smile wider than any other, apart from Neuro's.

Neuro was the only quiet one on the table, but although he hardly said a word his eyes were constantly moving over each person around the table; it was as if he was gathering information. Yako smiled at Neuro, he was always trying to figure out human behaviour and the meaning behind it.

Maybe a small part of Neuro was envious that Yako understood it and he didn't. Yako chuckled evilly at the thought of Neuro being envious of her.

"Do you find something amusing slave?" Neuro's eyes flashed a light green as he looked into Yako's. She gulped and hoped to god she didn't move her leg.

"No, no. I'm fine." Yako turned her attention back to her friends.

A waiter came by and read out a list of drinks, when everyone had confirmed that the list was correct the waiter placed the drinks in the middle of the table. Jiro handed them out, taking Kaori's and Akio's up first. After he'd given those drinks out he proceeded with the rest.

Honoka took a sip of her drink and wrinkled her nose in disgust. The drink was a greenish colour and it tasted strangely like tomato juice. She'd ordered it so she could try something new; which it definitely was.

Kaori watched Honoka's reaction with mild amusement. If she'd never tried the drink before why did she order it? He shook his head. "Honoka, take mine." He pushed his glass across the table.

Jiro froze.

Honoka thanked Kaori and lifted his glass to her lips; she drank.

Nobody was watching her but Jiro.

The glass dropped.

"Honoka?" Yako asked with concern. Honoka's lips were turning blue and fear clouded her eyes. Kanae reached over and tapped her on the shoulders.

"You alright?" Kanae chuckled awkwardly hoping Honoka was playing a tick on them all. Honoka didn't respond. Jiro's eyes grew wider and he looked around franticly for help.

A scream erupted from the crowd.

Honoka was dead.


	6. Chapter Six: Justice

I do not own Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro.

I loved questioning Kaori; I'm even starting to like him myself. Yako can have Neuro and I can have Kaori.

Don't forget; review buttons are there for a reason.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

"I don't see how this isn't good; we finally found a mystery to investigate." That was the last thing Neuro said before the door was slammed in his face by Yako. He was irritating her, couldn't he see she was upset. Her friend had just died for goodness sake.

She collapsed on her bed, sighing heavily.

She felt like she had a weight on her chest. She knew if she started crying she'd never stop so she kept the tears in. She tried to forget though she knew Neuro wouldn't let her. He was so heartless sometimes.

She'd give anything for Honoka to still be alive.

There was a knock at the door and Yako rolled over, pulling a pillow over her head. "If that's you Neuro, go away. I'm not in the mood."

There was another nock. "It's Akio."

"Oh." Yako got up and opened it to Akio. He was stood outside, dry tears running down his cheeks. He ran to Yako and hugged her leg tightly. Yako's eyes widened. "Akio?"

Fresh tears began falling from his eyes. "I'm sorry," He sniffled. "I'm sorry for being mean to you before. I was shy."

Yako knelt down and hugged the boy back. She couldn't suppress her tears any longer. "It's ok Akio. I'm sorry too." She patted his back. "So sorry."

"Yako, promise me something?" Akio pulled back from her and looked her in the eyes.

"What is it you'd like from me?"

"Catch her murderer; don't let her death be for nothing."

Yako nodded. "I promise I will."

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"Honestly! Why would I put something in the drink? I love my job; I wouldn't sacrifice it for the world!" The waiter, Jun, said. He was clinging to Yako like a rag doll. "Don't let the boss fire me; P-l-e-a-s-e!"

Yako put her arms on Jun's shoulders, trying desperately to push him off. "It's alright, nobody is going to fire you; I'm just investigating."

"Really?" Jun let go of Yako and looked up at her, truly grateful.

Yako nodded.

"Oh, you're so kind!" He took her head in his hands and shook her happily. Neuro stood behind Yako, watching the event with great amusement.

"Can I just ask; did you see anything strange or unusual on the day of the murder?" Yako asked; hopeful for some information to help the case.

Jun shook his head. "Everything went as usual. I swear to it!" Yako accepted his answer quickly; she'd finally got him off and didn't want him too excited again.

"Alright Jun, that's all we needed from you." Yako smiled and gestured to the door. "Have a nice day."

"I will!" Jun skipped out of the room.

When he was gone Yako dropped down into a chair. "I haven't got any clues to work with."

"Relax Louse; we still have the restaurant owner and your friends to interview yet." Neuro placed his hand on Yako's head and squeezed lightly.

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"Excuse me? I'm here to question you about the murder." Yako knocked lightly on a door that read. 'Manager's office.'

"The police have already come to ask me about it, so please, leave me be."

"Listen, me and my assistant are detectives; if you would just give us a moment of your time?" Yako tried desperately to convince the restaurant owner.

"Let me handle this." Yako flinched. Neuro's lips were an inch away from her ear; she gulped.

There was an almighty crash and the door fell, with a bang, onto the floor.

Yako was stunned. "Neuro!" He'd kicked the door down.

"What are you doing? Do you have any idea how much that door cost? It was oak!" Neuro smiled and pushed Yako forward.

"Sensei said she'd pay for the repairs." Neuro smiled innocently and Yako shot him a look of pure hatred.

She stepped forward. "Now, Mr?"

"Mr. Nakamura."

Yako smiled. "Mr. Nakamura, we heard a rumour that you were desperate to get publicity for your restaurant. A murder would be the perfect way to achieve that; your restaurant would be in the news, on the radio, on the front page of every magazine."

The restaurant owner nodded and chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. "Yes, it seems all the evidence points to me huh?" He shook his head. "It's true, I did want publicity for my restaurant; but I'd never murder someone."

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"Do you think he was telling the truth?" Asked Neuro, his eyes bright with hunger for the mystery.

"I'm pretty sure he was. It's just that his motive was so strong." Neuro grinned.

The rest of the day was spent questioning everyone related to the murder, including Kanae and even Akio. Nobody was of much help.

It eventually came to Kaori's turn.

He was sat with his legs open and was leaning over so his eyes were in line with Yako's. "So, it's my turn to be questioned is it?" He shrugged. "Oh well then. I'm very sorry Yako, but I don't have any information for you."

"Are you absolutely sure?" Asked Yako.

"You suspect me huh?" He huffed and gave her a one sided grin. "Just because I look like a bad boy doesn't make me qualified for murder."

Yako shook her head franticly. "No. I would never suspect you, of course not Kaori!"

Neuro walked forward and placed his hand on Yako's shoulder. "What sensei means is, she needs more evidence before she can decide who the murderer is. At the present, she suspects everyone." Neuro poked Yako in the cheek with one of his fingers.

"Well since I can be of no help I'll take my leave early." He got to his feet and began walking for the exit.

"Wait!" Yako stood up and pointed to something that pointed out from Kaori's trouser pocket. "What's that?"

Kaori stopped and turned around. "What?"

Yako slipped her hand into Kaori's back pocket. His eyes widened and he flinched. "What the?"

Neuro narrowed his eyes.

Yako pulled out a small glass vile and held it up. "Aha!" She paused a moment. "What is it?

"Don't look at me; I've never seen anything like it before." Kaori was a little flustered.

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"So, this is the poison that was used to kill Honoka?" Yako held the vile up to the light and examined it carefully. Neuro snatched it off her.

"You'll damage the evidence." He told her. Yako highly doubted she could do more harm to it than Neuro could.

"It's impossible, Kaori would never do anything like that." Yako felt a headache coming on and her chest ached more than ever.

"Yako," Neuro grabbed Yako's head and pulled her face closer to his. Yako blushed at their closeness or rather, the lack of distance between them. "Was anyone acting strange before the murder?"

"No, well, I don't think so."

"Think harder." Neuro warned, tightening his grip.

Yako tried to ignore the pain. "Wait a minute, I think there was something. Yes," Yako thought back. "Jiro was acting, well, not like Jiro; if you know what I mean."

"Explain." Neuro glared at Yako.

"He was sad because, um." Yako tried to remember what Jiro had said. "He said something about having feelings for Honoka but that she loved Kaori; that everyone did." She shook her head. "But I have no idea what that means."

"Foolish slave; the mystery is already on the tip of my tongue." His grin spread from cheek to cheek. Yako tripped over her bag.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Kaori's and Jiro's hotel room door swung open and Yako stumbled in. Both brothers were sat on their beds, chatting calmly.

Yako's arm began moving of its own accord as it always did. "The murder is you!" Her finger pointed to Jiro.

Kaori scrambled to his feet. "Jiro?"

"What are you talking about; why would I kill her?" The look of Horror covered Jiro's face.

Neuro stepped forward. "You handed the drinks out to your friends. However, what nobody noticed was that you placed a few droplets of poison, from this vile, on your finger." Neuro held up the vile of poison. "You were very careful not to get it on any other glasses but your brother's, which is why his was the only drink you gave out with your right hand. You smeared the poison on the inside of the glass as you were handing it to him; did you not?" Neuro grinned; it had been a rhetorical question. "The only thing you did not predict was the swap of glasses." Neuro took another step closer to the criminal. "Furthermore, you were staying in a room with Kaori; it would have been easy to plant evidence against him. You slipped the vile into his pocket as a last attempt to ruin his life; your first attempt had failed after all. That's what sensei said."

Neuro pushed Yako into the centre of the room. "Sensei will now reveal your motive."

Yako's words were shaky at first. Was she correct?

"You secretly hated your brother. In the canteen you told me that everyone loved him. You've wanted to be loved all your life but everyone you loved gave their hearts to your brother." Yako gulped. "You wanted to put a stop to it so you planned to kill your brother. Although, because he swapped drinks with Honoka your plan was ruined; your last hope was to plant suspicion on Kaori."

Yako held back tears. "You ended up killing the girl you loved most."

Jiro was still, his eyes went dark. "You're right." His mouth stretched into a horrific smile, it might have been larger than one of Neuro's grins. His fingernails grew longer and sharper, his freckles multiplied and covered his whole body and his ginger hair spread down his back and broke off to make what looked like a tail.

He threw his head back and laughed. "But that only helped to lock away my heart; now I can kill my brother with no regrets!" He pulled out a sharp silver bladed dagger. "Forgive me brother." Jiro rushed forwards, willing the dagger to hit Kaori in his chest.

Yako rushed forward and pushed Jiro away from Kaori. Jiro began to get to his feet again but Neuro pushed him back down.

The room clouded over, only Neuro and Jiro could see what was going on. "All you wanted was for someone to love you." He leaned forward. "777 Tools of the Demon World;" Neuro grinned. "Evil love." A small creature that resembled a worm appeared, around its neck was a small love heart.

"This creature gets into your bloodstream and travels directly to your heart. It will then multiply till you heart is burst open." Jiro screamed and the worm wriggled into his skin.

"Itadakimasu" Neuro head changed its form into that of a bird and he ate the mystery.

Police sirens sounded outside.

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"Cousin, promise you'll bring me to visit Yako again someday?" Akio pulled on Kanae's arm.

"Promise." Kanae said and Akio jumped around happily before going to give Yako one more goodbye hug.

"I'll miss you." Yako kissed his forehead.

"I'll miss you too," Akio blushed. "Sis."


	7. Chapter Seven: Cherry

I do not own Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro.

I'd eat anything Neuro made. –Gulp- Sorry if I went out of character at all; next chapter will be out soon.

P.S: I didn't really like this chapter.

By clicking the review button you make me smile. :D If you have any ideas for chapters write them in the review or message them to me and I'll try to add them.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

"What are you doing now? I can smell something horrid coming from in here." Neuro stepped into the kitchen at Yako's house. Neuro visited her house occasionally as long as her mum wasn't at home. Yako wondered what her mum would think finding her daughter and her daughters boss together in Yako's bedroom, it couldn't be that bad. The worst thing that Yako's mum could possibly see by walking in would be Neuro attempting to throw a book at Yako.

"Cooking." Yako reached for a packet of cherries and opened it. She ate five and used the others in her pie. "It smells nice not horrid." Added Yako.

"Maybe for human food." He shrugged.

"Was that a compliment? Thank you." She said.

"Don't misunderstand." He grabbed her head. "It still smells terrible." He stole a cherry and held it up to the light. "Cooking isn't something I've seen you do before; so why are you?"

Yako snatched the cherry back and plopped it into her mouth. "It's a competition; the best cherry pie wins; and the winner will be me."

"You have lots of false hope."

"Thanks for the encouragement." Yako rolled her eyes.

"Why not just be the judge?"

Yako dropped her head; Neuro could swear that he saw tears well up in her eyes. "I tried! They'd already chosen the judges." Yako licked her lips. "I bet all the pies will look really yummy."

"Just don't eat the competition." Neuro teased and Yako shot him an irritated look.

Neuro slammed Yako's head into the kitchen counter. "Your food is burning."

Yako shot up. "What; where?" She couldn't spot any fire.

Neuro chuckled. "Humans really are gullible."

"We are not!" Yako narrowed her eyes at him.

"One human in particular then." He said, eyeing Yako.

She pushed past him and got some equipment from the draw. "Must you stand there?"

"Are you forgetting whose servant you are?" He grinned and stepped closer. Yako gulped and took a couple of steps back.

"Of course not, ha-ha" She chuckled awkwardly. When he didn't make any move to torture her she let out the breath she hadn't known she'd been holding in.

Hours went by and Yako had finished off at least seven cherry pies, two of which were probably burnt. Neuro was getting increasingly bored by the second; this cooking ordeal should have been easier than Yako made it out to be.

Yako was running around, grabbing this and that, finding anything that could improve her work and give her the little push she needed to win. Neuro's eye twitched.

"You're a useless excuse for a servant." He pushed past her. "Even I can cook better than you."

"Have you ever cooked anything before?" Yako asked suspiciously.

"No but I'm still better at it than you."

Neuro was determined to have a go, even after all of Yako's warnings. She took him through every danger and all the things he should keep in mind while working with food. After a while he was fed up with her constant chatter.

He bent down and picked Yako up, bridal style. Yako could feel her face and most of her neck turn scarlet. "Neuro, what are you doing?" He carried her into the living room.

"I'm putting you out of the way." He sat her down on a chair beside the dining table. "I don't need a servant telling me what to do." He disappeared back into the Kitchen.

Yako was scared he'd set fire to her house or maybe even blow something up. She waited patiently, or not, for him to finish. If there hadn't been a bad smell before there certainly was now. She could hear smashing noises from behind the closed door and hoped to god he hadn't broken anything.

The door swung open and Neuro came in holding something that hardly even resembled a pie. It was bubbling and Yako thought she saw some mould growing on one of its sides."Yako, you're my test subject." He placed the pie in front of her and pointed to it. "Eat."

Yako took the spoon that was stuck in the top of the pie and with a shaky hand she ate a spoon full of his pie. She wished she hadn't; it was disgusting. It tasted like sea water, vegetables, minced meat and pineapple. She felt the urge to puke and looked up at Neuro. His eyes flashed at her, he was giving her a look that told her if she didn't finish every last bit of it she'd probably die.

She put on her best false smile. "Mmm, it's amazing. It's so good I want to enjoy it all in my room." Yako took the pie and ran upstairs.

When she got to her room she threw the pie in the bin. "Yucky." She wrinkled her nose. She had to admire Neuro for trying at least.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

As it turned out, it was not Yako but Neuro who entered the competition, he'd insisted it was the right thing to do; Yako definitely doubted that. She was worried that his concoction would give somebody food poisoning. "Um Neuro," Yako began. "What did you put in that cherry pie you made me?"

He turned to her and gave her a large grin. She gulped again. "Oh; nothing unusual. I used a couple tomatoes, one onion, lamb, some liver, salmon and..."

"Pineapple?" Yako asked; she felt sick.

"Yes." Neuro grinned.

"But it's a cherry pie."

Neuro crossed his arms and gave her a yes-everyone-knows-that sigh. "Well that's why I put the cherry on top, you fool."

Yako gave up trying to talk sense into him.

Neuro's gloved hand closed over her head and he dragged her over to their stand; the judges had already started looking around.

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At the end of the day Neuro's pie had made second place.

Yako still couldn't believe it. His food had been un-eatable. As if he could tell what she'd been thinking Neuro looked down at Yako smugly.

A couple of people came up to Neuro and Yako and shook their hands; congratulating them on coming in the top three. Yako shot Neuro a few strange looks, what had he put in that pie?

"Ah, you're the piggish detective." A man said while shaking Yako's hand. "It's obvious that a talented girl like yourself, who appreciates some good food, would be such an amazing cook."

Yako nodded grumpily. "Uh, yea; thanks a lot."

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"What did you do to it?" Yako moved closer to Neuro. "Did you put some strange demon tool thingy in it?"

Neuro chuckled. "That would be cheating." He held up and empty cherry pie box that had been bought from a supermarket. "I just used this one instead of mine."

Yako's eye twitched; he said using a demon tool would be cheating? "Why?"

"I realised that a human would never be able to appreciate the true glory of my cooking." Neuro boasted. True glory? Thought Yako; more like toxic waste.

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The school day came and went; isn't it strange how Monday's pass faster than any other day? Yako was making her way home when she was grabbed behind by someone. "Eeek!"

"Hey, you're the famous high school detective right?" Yako turned around to find herself face to face with a smiling girl. The girl had long brown hair and large blue eyes. She was so beautiful it almost made Yako cry. "Oh my god! Can I have your autograph?" The girl searched in her bag and pulled out a pen and pad, she held it out to Yako.

"Uh, sure." Yako signed the pad and gave the pen back.

"Oh dear, ignore my rudeness; I'm Christy Taylor!" She smiled. "I'm joining your class! I just moved over from England."


	8. Chapter Eight: Charming

I do not own Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro.

Sorry for the wait. Thanks for all your reviews, I really appreciate them. I had my friend read this chapter back to me out loud so I could see if it sounded right; I kept getting mad at her because her version of Neuro's voice sounded like a dying pirate.

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"Is something wrong?" Asked Christy; moving in close to Yako, who looked different somehow. Yako's stomach grumbled and she mentally cursed it. "Aha! You're hungry. Ok, I know this great ice-cream store not far from here. You like ice-cream right?" Christy asked excitedly.

"Ice-cream," Yako's mouth was watering; she nodded, not able to refuse food. "Absolutely, it's delicious!" Christy grabbed Yako's arm and pulled her down the road.

"Then what are we waiting for?" She giggled. The two ran down the street, a few people walking across the pavement stopped and stared at the girls, Yako didn't care, she'd get rewarded with ice-cream. Christy and Yako barely missed an old man as they darted toward the ice-cream store, they apologised without stopping and the old man shook his head disapprovingly.

When they arrived at the ice-cream store Yako made her way, as quickly as she possibly could, over to the glass screen which guarded the different cartons of ice-cream. Yako wasn't sure if she could keep herself from drooling so she didn't press her face against the screen as she normally would; she was sure the store owner didn't want her drooling down the glass. As Yako looked over the different types of ice-cream she realised it was impossible to decide between the chocolate ice-cream, the mint, the vanilla, the strawberry and the caramel; so she got them all. She and Christy then found somewhere outside to sit. "This is really good." Said Yako; licking the side of her caramel ice-cream.

"Mhm, I love it!" Christy agreed and took a big bite out of her's. "Is it just me or is it really cold today?" Asked Christy; shivering on cue.

"Ice-cream has that effect." Yako grinned.

Yako was enjoying her conversation with Christy, at times Christy could be a little eccentric but she was really nice.

"So, you're from England right? How are you so fluent in Japanese?" Yako leaned forward with curiosity.

"Well; my mum is Japanese, I've been living with her in Japan for most of my life, I just recently moved back to live with my dad." She smiled. "I like England a lot but it doesn't feel as much like home as Japan, you know?" Yako nodded though she'd never lived anywhere else before.

"What excuse do you have for missing work today Louse?" Neuro grabbed Yako's cheeks and pulled on them.

"Uh," Yako had completely forgotten about work; it wasn't exactly her fault, that day had just gone so smoothly. Also, the promise of ice-cream had made it virtually impossible to remember anything, almost like she was hypnotised.

"Oh my god." Christy dragged out her words, her mouth open wide. She was staring at Neuro and a blush was growing over her cheeks. Neuro looked shocked; his pupils shrank and he stared completely at Christy, looking removed from the world. "I never thought I'd meet my prince charming in a place like this; so romantic. Ah, I've read about you all over the news and finally I get to see you!" Yako looked over at Christy and raised her eyebrow, had she just called Neuro prince charming?

Christy got to her feet and rushed over to Neuro. "Won't you run away with me? I'm sure dad won't approve but love can overcome all obstacles. We can be the main characters in a romance novel, don't you want that?" Her eyes were sparkling. Yako had never seen this side of Christy, in fact she'd never seen this side of anyone; she sighed.

Neuro's face returned to normal. "I'd love to; but sensei would be mad at me."

"Huh." Said Yako and Christy in synchronisation; what was he talking about now? Yako wondered.

Neuro slipped his hand around Yako's waist and pulled her closer. Yako blushed and tried to shove him away; it was impossible. She didn't want to know what was coming next, and what was with this sudden move. Yako grew frustrated, trying to figure out what Neuro was up to. "Sensei and I are in love. She wouldn't like it if I ran away with someone else."

"What?" Yako's eyes almost popped out and her caramel ice-cream slipped from her hands and ended up face down on the ground; what a waste! She looked from Christy to Neuro, horror on her face.

"Sensei, don't joke around; you don't have to keep secrets from your friends." Neuro's eyes flashed, letting Yako know she'd go through a lot worse than this if she didn't play along.

"Oh, Yes. I'm totally, erm, in love with him." Yako had a hard time struggling with the temptation to burst out with laughter, or tears.

Christy turned to Yako and grabbed her hand, shaking it firmly. "We are now rivals. I vow to win over my Prince's heart. May the best woman win!" Christy spoke with a deep confidence; it was as if she'd already won. Yako gulped and nodded awkwardly. She didn't even fully understand what she was doing; had she just agreed to fight over Neuro, over Neuro?

Christy looked up at the sky. "It's getting dark already; dad will be worried if I don't get home soon." Yako said goodbye and Christy set off for home, waving to Yako and Neuro as she left.

Yako tried removing Neuro's arm again. She was getting uncomfortable with him holding her like that. "What are you trying to do now?" He asked.

"Trying to get you off me; Christy's gone so you don't need to hold me like that anymore." Yako couldn't feel the blush leaving her face. Why did she need to explain, she shouldn't need to give a reason why he should stop holding her like they were lovers, which they most certainly were not.

"You never know, she could still be looking." Neuro grinned and tightened his grip on Yako's waist. Yako wondered what she'd done to deserve this.

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Yako shuddered; she could still feel Neuro's hands on her. She looked up from where she sat to meet Neuro's gaze; she blushed and dropped her eyes. The office was filled with a tense feeling, nobody spoke. The only noise was Akane's constant typing and the chirp of a, rather annoying, bird which was perched outside the office window.

Godai got to his feet and broke through the tension. "What the hell is going on?" He slammed a fist down on the table. "You two have been acting weird all day. Don't you dare keep secrets from me." Neuro ignored him. "Hey, I'm talking to you!"

"Godai, calm down; nobody's keeping secrets from you." Yako reassured him and Godai sat back down with a grunt. He didn't like it, he was certain there was something he didn't know.

The door swung open. Christy stood in the hall; she was out of breath and had probably run all the way there. She leant over, trying desperately to slow her breathing; when she spoke her voice came out wheezing, she must have run very far. "Sorry for barging in, I just couldn't spend another moment without you. You don't mind do you?"

Neuro was across the room in a matter of seconds. He took Yako in his arms and tilted her chin up as if about to kiss her. "This is rather bad timing, I was about to entertain my sweet heart." Yako didn't dare make any move to push Neuro away, she didn't feel like being punished today and even if she wouldn't be punished she was completely frozen anyway.

She couldn't feel her knees; must he do this again? "Oh; um. Sorry?" Christy chuckled and backed out of the room.

Godai punched the wall. "Really, what is going on?"

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"This is going to be so much fun, don't you think Yako?" Yako nodded. Christy had suggested that she, Neuro and Yako go out for dinner; Neuro had thought it was a great idea; Yako didn't quite agree with him. She wondered what sort of things awaited her.

When everything was sorted the three took their seats and began talking. "So, how did you both first start dating?" Christy asked. Neuro flashed Yako a look that said 'it's your turn to speak'.

"Oh." Yako tried to think up something. She realised her mind was a blank, damn, if only she'd had some experience in this. "I got lost," She smiled awkwardly. "It was dark and I was getting scared. Neuro found me and showed me the way back to my house. It was only something small but to me it was the first time I realised how kind he could be. After that there wasn't anyone I had any interest in but him. A few days later he showed up at my house with a bunch of flowers and asked me to be his." Yako was beaming.

Neuro looked down at her with his eyebrow raised. "Wow, that's so cool." Christy smiled at Neuro. "You're such a gentleman." As they'd been talking the food had arrived, Yako had three full sized meals in front of her and Christy was picking at a salad, with a small bowl of soup laying neglected to her right.

Neuro took Yako's spoon and scooped up some food; he stuffed the spoon in her mouth and petted her head. Yako tried to mumble something with the spoon in her mouth. She pulled it out and tucked in.

"It's cool that you feel comfortable with eating that much in front of your boyfriend."

"Huh?" Yako looked up; she wondered if she'd done something wrong.

"I mean, you might get fat if you eat that much."

Yako laughed. "I never get fat." She continued shuffling down food.

Christy smiled, clenching her fist under the table. By the end of the day she'd definitely break these two up. Ok, there's no better way to put a guy off a girl than bad dinner manners. "Yako, Is that your mum over there?" Christy pointed past Yako's shoulder and both Yako and Neuro turned their heads to see whether or not it actually was Ms. Katsuragi. Christy quickly reached into her bag and pulled out a small container of chilly power and sprinkled as much as she could onto Yako's food without it being visible and without her getting caught.

"I don't see her." The two turned back to face Christy.

"Oh; my mistake then." Christy shrugged and took a spoon full of her food; Yako did the same. Although, as Yako swallowed the food she began to feel as if her mouth was on fire. The burning started on her tongue and travelled to the sides of her mouth then down her throat. She began to cough.

After choking for a minute or two the food that had been in Yako's mouth shot across the table and landed on the floor, though Yako seemed to care about nothing but putting out the fire in her mouth and didn't notice that most of the people in the restaurant were staring at her, some in disgust and some just about ready to call the hospital. "Water..." Yako took up her drink and gulped it down in a matter of seconds; Neuro was thoroughly un-impressed.

As time went by it was clear that Christy's attempt at ending the two detective's relationships had not been successful; the two looked un-fazed by the event and were smiling and laughing as usual. Time for plan b she thought.

Christy leant over the table and reached for the gravy boat, taking it up in a steady grip but when it was only inches off the table her fingers dropped from the handle. She'd let go in such a way that the gravy boat was sailing forward instead of falling straight down, it was now heading for Yako's top. Gravy went all over Yako's favourite blouse, leaving a large brown stain in the fabric. "Oh dear, I'm so sorry." Christy held her hand over her mouth in shock; she was quite pleased with her acting. "I didn't realize how hot it was."

"No, it's fine." Yako chuckled as she patted the stain with a few paper cloths. "It was an accident, I understand."

Neuro sighed and slipped his jacket off; he draped it over Yako's shoulders. Yako looked up at him, slightly shocked. "You don't want everyone seeing that big stain on your top now do you?" Neuro poked Yako's cheek lightly. Yako thought she'd attract more attention wearing an almost neon coloured blue jacket but she was grateful for his kindness.

She slipped her arms into the sleeves and buttoned up the jacket. Christy bit her lip, why did all her plans not work? "I think you have something on your cheek Love." Neuro said, leaning down and licking a piece of food off Yako's cheek. Yako barely stopped herself from jerking away. "You should be more careful." Neuro grinned and put his hand on hers, running his thumb over it gently.

Christy rested her elbow on the table and leant her head against her hand, smiling at Neuro. Ok, this better work, if not I'm dead. Making no changes in her facial expression she slid her leg up the side of Neuro's.

"Neuro; are you ok? You look like you're about to be sick." Yako was genuinely worried, Neuro skin had turned a pale green colour and he didn't seem to be breathing, she wondered if he might be catching a cold, if that were even possible.

Sick huh? Christy gritted her teeth. Well, at least he hadn't told Yako, which must mean he wanted her to continue, right? Christy plastered on a smile. "Neuro, you haven't eaten anything since we came." Neuro mentally gulped, he didn't want to know where this was going.

Christy took a spoon full of her soup and held it in front of Neuro. "You must have some of mine."

"No, no." Neuro shook his head. "I've eaten already, I'm full; couldn't eat another bite."

"Oh but you must!" Christy moved the spoon closer to Neuro. "You know you want some." Neuro held his hands up trying desperately to convince her he didn't want it.

"No really. I'm completely full." Yako had never seen Neuro eat in front of her, maybe he didn't eat human food?

"Uh, Christy really; he may be sick if he eats anymore." Yako looked worriedly from Neuro to Christy and back again. Defeated, Christy put her spoon down and sighed.

Neuro kicked Yako's ankle under the table. "Ow." Yako said earning looks from a few people who sat near her table and Christy. Neuro flashed his eyes at her. "Sorry; I erm, stumped my toe." Yako smiled apologetically.

When Christy stopped staring at her Yako looked up at Neuro and mouthed 'What?' Neuro checked to see if Christy was looking, she wasn't. He mouthed back 'Don't you dare leave me alone with her.' Yako nodded in confirmation.

Although Yako thought she'd be able to keep her promise she wasn't so sure she could after a while. Her bladder was full and she was bursting for the toilet. She elbowed Neuro and he turned to see what she wanted. She mouthed to him 'I'm dying; I think I need to go to the toilet.' She turned to Christy. "Erm, I think I'm going to go to the toilet, how about you?"

"No no." Christy smiled. "I'm fine."

"Oh; well I'll go a little later then." As more time passed Yako wasn't sure if she could hold it in any more. She had her legs crossed firmly but even that couldn't help now. 'I'm sorry.' She mouthed to Neuro. "Christy, you want to come to the toilet with me now?"

"No, I don't need it just yet." She stroked her arm and fluttered her eyelashes at Neuro, he felt sick again.

"Ok." Yako got up. "I'll go by myself then." Neuro glared at her. As Yako began walking toward the women's restroom Christy stuck her foot out and Yako tripped over it conveniently. "Oh, ow; sorry, I'm so clumsy." She got up and continued walking, chuckling out of embarrassment.

When Christy was sure Yako had left she leant forward over the table. "So, how long have you two been together?"

"Oh erm." Neuro would never forgive Yako for this. "Let me think, a few months maybe, about sickish? I mean sixish; yes six months." Neuro spoke as if he were asking a question instead of giving an answer, how was he supposed to know what the normal length of a human relationship was?

"You don't sound so sure." Christy moved in closer and Neuro leant away from the table. "Have you forgotten?" She tried to place her hand over his but he moved it away before she could.

"No, I haven't forgotten; not at all." The girl, Christy, was slowly closing in on him and he wasn't sure how far he could lean back before his chair couldn't hold him up anymore. He had never felt fear such as this before, how did human men live with girls like her?

Christy's face was hardly an inch from Neuro's now. "You know. If she can't satisfy your needs you could always come to my house."

Yako exited the women's restroom just in time to see Neuro and his chair fall backward and her boss land flat on his back against the restaurant's wooden floor. Everyone turned in their seats to stare at whatever had made that almighty bang, it sounded like the whole place was coming down. Oh dear, she shouldn't have left him.

Yako rushed over as fast as she could, dodging tables and chairs as she went. "Neuro, are you alright? Are you still breathing?" Neuro groaned, at least he wasn't dead. He got to his feet and smiled, grabbing Yako's wrist and taking a look at her watch. "Look at the time, we'd better be off. Things to do, places to be, you know?" He left the money on the table and grabbed Yako's head, rushing out of the restaurant without giving Christy a goodbye.

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Yako was secretly relieved that Christy had finally moved on. She was now crazy about an eighteen year old boy, with brown hair and eyes; he was the captain of the football team.

Christy leaned in and whispered to Yako. "He's perfect! I can't believe I ever liked anyone else! Well anyway, I'll see you again sometime. I can't believe daddy would decide to move back to England on such short notice, I hardly had time to say goodbye!"

"I'll write to you." Yako hugged Christy. "Bye."

"Bye." Neuro said, resting his arm on Yako's shoulder. Yako didn't think she could ever get used to this.

Christy waved and grabbed her suitcase. She jogged over to her dad and the two set off and before long they were lost in the crowd at the airport.

Yako sighed, glad it was over. Neuro grabbed her and slung her over his shoulder, he began walking to the exit. "Hey, what are you doing?"

"If I let you walk we'd never get to the office before dark." Yako couldn't see the grin that widened on Neuro's face.


	9. Chapter Nine: Clueless

I do not own Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro.

Well... I don't know what to write here so... have fun reading...

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"Well, if you don't get a boyfriend soon you never will." Kanae warned Yako. They were sat around a table in the school canteen; Yako was finding it hard to hear Kanae over all the other noises in the room. All the other girls and a few guys were busy gossiping and bragging about various things.

"May I sit with you?"

Yako and Kanae turned to see where the voice had come from. A small girl with short greyish brown hair looked up at the girls; she looked like a scared mouse. Her eyes were large and a light green colour and her eyelashes were naturally long.

Yako blinked. "Of course you can; you don't need to ask to sit with us." She smiled at the girl. "My name's Yako and this is my friend Kanae; what's your name?"

"I'm Akiko." The girl, Akiko, took her seat at the table. She sat next to Yako, took an apple off her tray and bit into it.

"What do you think of the new teacher, cute right?" Kanae leaned forward and grinned at Yako.

"Mr Watanabe?" Yako raised her eyebrow in question and Kanae nodded. "I don't know, I never saw him like that. He's just not my type." Yako shrugged.

"You don't have a type Yako, is there any guy you've ever liked?"

Without warning the image of Neuro's smiling face entered Yako's head. She shook the picture out of her head; Neuro was her boss and nothing more. "Not really, I'll know when I meet my perfect man."

"You're too picky, that's your problem." Kanae took a spoon full of pasta and ate it. "Now, Mr Watanabe; there's a hotty for you." Yako gave Kanae an are-you-serious? look and shovelled some food down.

"His lessons are so boring though." Yako shook her head. "I have to try extra hard not to fall asleep."

"No, I find his lessons fascinating." Akiko spoke shyly; Yako hadn't heard her speak since she sat at the table.

"Well, I guess they could be. Maybe I should pay more attention." Yako scratched the back of her head and smiled.

"Hey, I've never seen you around before. Are you new?" Kanae asked and the girl shook her head.

"I'm not new; I've wanted to talk to you guys for a while now, but I was shy; silly right?" Akiko played with a strand of her hair.

"No, not at all." Kanae smiled. "Friends?" She offered Akiko her hand and Akiko took it.

"Friends." She grinned.

"Where do I come in all of this?" Asked Yako watching Kanae and Akiko.

"You're my friend Yako so Akiko is your friend too." Kanae paused for a moment. "Hey, how about we go to town after school, I can show Akiko where we hang out Yako; that sound good?"

"Erm, sorry; I have work after school." Yako didn't want Neuro to come and collect her himself again. Kanae looked disappointed.

"Aw, really; can't you miss it today?" Kanae pleaded.

"Sorry, I've been skipping work too much lately. You two can go without me." The school bell rang and children made their way out, they were all pushing and shoving to get through the door. There were a couple children still finishing off their food and one boy was being pressured by a teacher to pick up his rubbish and put it in a bin.

Yako, Kanae and Akiko threw any rubbish they had away and headed for the door with a smaller crowd around it.

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As Yako entered the office her face was greeted with the front page of that week's newspaper. Yako shoved the newspaper away and looked up at Neuro. "I'm not late this time so what was that for?"

"I wanted to get you focused." Neuro grinned. Yako's eyes drifted to the front page of the, now crumpled, newspaper. A headline stood out from the black and white page. 'Young girls missing, police left clueless!'

"Neuro," She pointed to the headline. "This looks interesting." Yako took a closer look. Apparently school girls had been reported missing all over Japan, all the children had in common was that they were about 16-17 years old, attended a high school and were girls. The girls had all given various reasons for leaving the house and had never returned. The children's parents were all respectable so it wasn't likely that any of the kids had run away.

"Hmm." Neuro snatched the newspaper back off Yako and took a look at the first page. "Looks like we've found a mystery." He looked over at Godai who had remained relatively quiet. "Servant number two, go out and find any information you can on the case."

Godai grumbled and got to his feet; as he was leaving his desk Yako turned to Akane, who had stopped typing and was now waiting for instructions. "Akane, can you do the same on your computer?" Akane began searching without any complaints.

"We can't examine a crime scene as nobody even knows if the girls were murdered, so what is there left to do?" Yako asked but Neuro gave no answer. "Well I suppose we could interview this girl's parents, see it says here name here. With Akane's help we should be able to find out where she lived and interview her family." Akane was quick to find the location.

Neuro grabbed Yako by her head and dragged her out of the office. "Ow, ow, ow." Yako's head felt as if it was about to crack like an egg shell.

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The door opened to reveal an average sized, muscular, man. The man's eyes scanned over the two detectives and narrowed. "You're that high school detective, aren't you?" Yako nodded. "Doesn't anybody have a sense of morality; my wife is finding it hard enough to cope without you and your questions. We are a good family; we never gave our daughter any reason to run away."

Yako understood how it felt to lose someone close to you; the pain was almost impossible to live with. "We don't think that you're responsible; we just need to question you so that we may get clues to who is behind your child's disappearance."

"Our child; she never acted any different, she was her usual self. We never thought," He rubbed his temples and sighed. "We know nothing. Nothing; now please don't waste our time and we won't waste yours." The man shut the door on them.

Yako turned to look at Neuro, she had expected him to stop the man and insist that they come in but the whole time he'd just been stood there, watching quietly. "He's not lying." Neuro said, looking down at Yako.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I meant what I said; he wasn't lying." Neuro said and Yako looked up at him for a wider explanation. "I just know these things." Neuro spoke as if explaining something to a child for the fifth or sixth time; Yako knew that if Neuro wasn't always as closed up he would have rolled his eyes.

The next day Yako, Kanae and Akiko were sat around a table in the local café, Yako munching on a few dozen cakes, Kanae sipping at a chocolate milkshake and Akiko chewing on a white chocolate bar.

Akiko was constantly shuffling in her seat and checking the time on her watch. "So Yako, meet any nice guys recently?" Asked Kanae hopefully, although she knew the answer would be no.

As expected Yako shook her head. "Not in the way you mean. If I meet the guy I want to be with I promise you'll be the first person I'll tell."

"I'd better be." Kanae took her straw out of the milkshake and pointed it toward Yako. "You could try to meet the man you want to be with faster though. It'll be too late when you're ninety, you know?"

"I know, I know. I promise to find him before I'm ninety; happy now?"

"Yep." Kanae grinned at Yako. "Hey Akiko, how about you; you meet anyone cool?" Kanae changed the direction of her straw so it pointed toward Akiko instead of Yako.

"Well." Akiko blushed. "There's this one guy, and he says he loves me; but I'm not sure."

"Oh really; do you like him too? What makes you think he doesn't love you? What does he look like; is he cute? How old is he? Has he got a girlfriend?" Kanae bombarded Akiko with questions.

"Erm..." Akiko tried to process everything that Kanae had just asked. "I think he's cute, he has such a nice personality; it's so easy to talk to him. I love him too, of course; but I just get the feeling my love isn't returned, even though he does everything for more; is that terrible?"

"Not at all, you're entitled to your own feelings; though I'm sure he loves you too, what sort of a guy wouldn't?" Kanae reached over the table and patted Akiko's arm. "Don't worry yourself about it."

Yako was totally lost when it came to chats about men so she sat quietly, watching Kanae talk excitedly with Akiko.

Akiko stopped and took another quick look at her watch, by the way her mouth twisted Yako knew that she would have sworn if she wasn't as polite and shy. "I'm late." Akiko said under her breath. "I'm really sorry; really, but I need to leave. I have somewhere important to be."

Yako and Kanae were both curious to where 'somewhere important to be' actually was but they didn't ask as they thought they'd come across nosey. "Alright well, have fun then." Kanae waved goodbye and Yako smiled after Akiko as she left the café.

"You know, I met the cutest boy yesterday." Kanae started and conversation picked up from where it left off.

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"Nobody has any information on the case." Godai shrugged. "A few people said they'd seen a car drive by around the time that the victims first went missing; but nobody knows what it's number plate was or where it was going. The only information I could get on the car is that it was red, but we can't exactly go around questioning everyone with a red car." He closed his eyes and leant back in his chair. "Take a look at this." He threw that week's newspaper across the table toward Yako.

Yako took it and read the front page. Another girl had gone missing; Yako read on to see if the victim's name was mentioned. Yako paused when she found what she'd been looking for; the girl had been called 'Akiko Kagawa' and she was from the same school as Yako.

Again Yako had lost someone close to her.


	10. Chapter Ten: Unfolding

I do not own Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro.

Again sorry for how long it took me to upload this. I also updated chapter eight on the 16/06/2012, I changed the restaurant scene a lot; it's worth reading again.

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A week had passed since Akiko went missing and the detectives were no closer to figuring out who was behind the disappearances. Yako couldn't help but admit that she was a bit scared, after Akiko there was another girl from Yako's class who had gone missing; the girl was one of the nicest and brightest girls in Yako's class, Yako wished she'd gotten to know her better. She'd been reported missing yesterday, after school had finished, and her parents said that the last thing she'd told them was that she was going out to meet with a friend.

Yako had already spent half of the day questioning possible suspects and it was getting late; she was tired and could hardly keep her eyes open, she'd spent all of last night thinking about the case. She only had a few more people to question including two of the school teachers and a couple of girls from her class.

There was a knock at the door and Yako heard it open slowly. "Hello? I was told you needed to speak with me." A shy voice said. A young girl named Choko from Yako's class stood in the doorway, she looked about, wondering if she'd come to the right place.

"Oh right. If you'd just come here and take a seat I'll begin with some questions." Yako gestured toward the couch and the girl took a seat. "So you're a friend of Manami's?" Manami was the name of the second girl who'd gone missing from Yako's class.

Choko nodded. "Yes, we were best friends."

Yako smiled. "Were you with her on the day she disappeared?"

"Mhm, she invited me round to her house for a bit." Choko began biting her nails. "I didn't stay long she had somewhere else to be." She paused for a moment before something dawned on her. "Wait a minute; you don't think I'm behind this, do you?"

"No, no." Yako shook her head quickly. "I'm just getting more information on the case. I don't suspect anyone as of yet. Did she say where she was going?"

Choko shook her head. "She didn't tell me; all she said was that she was going to meet her boyfriend. She made me promise not to mention that to her parents."

"I see, why didn't she want her parents to know?" Yako asked.

"I don't know, she'd already told her parents she was out to meet with friends and maybe her parents wouldn't have let her out if it was to meet a guy?" Choko shrugged. "They were very protective over her, you know?"

"What do you mean by very protective?"

"Oh nothing really; they just wanted her to stay safe, any parent would want that for their kid."

"You didn't notice her acting strange, did she say anything suspicious?" Yako leaned forward, hoping for something to help the case.

Choko paused for a moment, thinking back. "No, nothing out of the ordinary."

"Alright then, that will be all. You can go now." Yako waved to Choko as she left the room. "Thank you for your time."

Neuro sighed and put his feet up on the table. He'd been lazing around like that all day; Yako was waiting for him to fall asleep. She couldn't complain however, it had been quite nice not having him torment her while she was working, it was peaceful for once.

The other school girls had nothing important to say about the case, they'd only briefly been with Manami on the day she disappeared and she'd said nothing to them about going out that afternoon. Now all that was left was to interview the two teachers.

A woman knocked at the door and before waiting for an answer she walked in. She had a regal air about her; her hair was tied up in a tight bun with a curl hanging down by her ear. She was wearing glasses with rectangular lenses and had a strong looking, but not unattractive, face.

"I'm here because of the disappearances that have been occurring recently at the school, correct?" She took a seat at the couch, tucking her skirt underneath her legs as she sat.

"Yes." Yako smiled and joined her hands. "You taught both Akiko and Manami on the days they disappeared, didn't you?"

"Yes I did. I don't see what that has to do with my pupils going missing though." The woman spoke with a deep confidence and a hint of annoyance. "You can't thing I had anything to do with this?"

"Ah. Of course not; but did you notice those individuals acting strange on the days they disappeared?"

"On the contrary, they were behaving exactly as they normally would in class."

"I see, so nothing struck you as unusual?" Yako pressed her question further; she was short on evidence and wondered how she and Neuro would ever solve the case.

"Nothing at all." The woman rearranged her hair and got up. "Look; I have other places to be. Since I can't give you any helpful information can I please leave?" She snapped.

"Oh ok." Yako nodded. The teacher made her way hastily toward to door but before her hand reached the door handle the door swung open by a rather enthusiastic looking man; the door barely missed the woman whom scowled at the newcomer. She stormed past him, giving him a dirty look as she left.

"Uh, did I do something wrong?" The man pointed to himself, a bewildered expression on his face. As Yako took a closer look she recognised him as her school teacher, Mr. Watanabe, and waved.

"I'm sure it's nothing." She smiled at him. "Sorry to call you here like this but I need to question you about the case." Yako checked her watch, it was late. "You don't have anywhere to be do you?"

"Nope, I'm free." He smiled.

"Oh, erm, you can sit down if you want." Yako pointed to the couch in front of her. She vaguely remembered what Kanae had told her about Mr. Watanabe being hot; Yako supposed he did look quite attractive; it was strange to see him wearing a casual shirt and jeans instead of the familiar black suit he wore to school.

Mr. Watanabe took a seat. He unzipped his jacket and lay it casually over to couch arm. "Ok; hit me with the first question then." Mr. Watanabe grinned at Yako.

"As you are teaching the class which was attended by both of the missing girls it's natural that sensei and I would need to question you." Neuro pointed out. Yako flinched as her boss's hand closed over the top of her head; how had he gotten across the room so fast, and without her hearing him?

Neuro had a closed-mouth smile on his face; it was the closest he could get to a grin when there were other humans around besides Yako, Kanae and Godai. He had been lazing around all day but since this was the last person to be questioned he'd decided to give his servant some assistance. "Yes yes." The man, Yako's teacher, said in reply to Neuro.

"On the days your students disappeared did you go straight home after work?" Neuro Asked suspiciously.

"Sure did, what else would I be doing after class?" Mr. Watanabe replied, the question not needing to be answered.

"Do you have any proof that you were at home at those times?" Neuro leaned closer to the teacher.

"Uh, well." Mr. Watanabe scratched the back of his head and chuckled. "Not really, no."

"What about in class, were any of your students acting strange or unusual?" Mr. Watanabe's eyes scanned the room as he was thinking.

"No, I don't believe so."

"You're absolutely sure?" Yako asked, she was desperate for some information to help with the investigation.

Unfortunately, like everyone else who'd been questioned Mr. Watanabe made clear that he was absolutely sure nothing had been unusual on the days of the disappearances. Neuro walked back to his chair and sat down, was he ever going to solve the case of the mysterious disappearances? It wasn't his hardest case; in fact it should have been quite simple, it was just the lack of any clues that prevented him from eating the mystery.

"Is there anything you can tell us that will help us with the case." Yako asked, she was fed up with asking the same questions over and over, it just wasted time since the answers were all the same. Mr. Watanabe shrugged and shook his head. "Ok, you can leave if you like then." Once Yako's teacher had left Yako hung her head back and sighed. "We still have nothing."

Neuro took Yako's nose between his fingers and grinned. "Who do you suspect?" Yako was shocked and remained silent for a moment; who did she suspect? The truth was Yako had never suspected anyone but she couldn't give Neuro an answer like that, he'd be unsatisfied.

"Well, maybe that female teacher who I questioned, she seems the type to kidnap people" Yako's voice came out muffled since Neuro was still holding her nose.

Neuro's eyes narrowed. "And who don't you suspect?"

"Well I don't really suspect the girls from my school and, oh, I don't suspect Mr. Watanabe." Yako smiled. "I can't see any of them kidnapping, or worse, murdering anyone." Neuro released Yako's nose.

"Akane, I want you to investigate anyone with a red car at Yako's school on your computer." Neuro waited for the braid to appear out of her hole in the wall and get on with his request but no such thing happened. Neuro waited for a couple of minutes but still the braid did not appear. "Servant number one," He gestured toward Yako with his right hand. "Get Akane to work."

Yako hurried over to where the braid usually hung. "Akane, what's wrong? Why aren't you coming out?" Yako knocked on the wall next to the opening in the wallpaper. "Akane?" No reply was made. "If you come out I will buy you some extra expensive hair care products." The braid finally showed itself but not much, only it's tip was visible.

"Ok really, what's wrong?" Akane finally came all the way out and began typing quicker than Yako's eyes could follow.

[It's him.] Yako looked from Neuro to Akane questioningly and Akane began typing again.

[Not him; the man that you were just talking to; he's the one who murdered me.] Yako had to try hard to keep her jaw from dropping off; Akane couldn't mean Mr. Watanabe could she?

Neuro went over to Yako and Akane and leaned closer, the braid quivered. "How do you know it was him?" Neuro's eyes flashed. Akane for the first time in her life felt afraid of Neuro, she felt sorry for Yako if this is what she had to go through each day.

[The tattoo on his hand, it is the same as the man who killed me. I swear it's true.] Yako had never really thought to much of the skull and crossbones that had been tattooed on her teacher's hand but the fact that he had it must now mean that he was Akane's murderer.

"I see." Neuro straightened and paused in thought. "We should find out all we can about this teacher of yours Yako."

Yako was about to ask Akane to investigate him but she realised that she might not be comfortable with researching the man who murdered her. As it happens at that moment Godai came through the door into the office, he was carrying a can of beer. "Godai!"

Godai stepped back as an overjoyed Yako came rushing at him. "Ah, God. What do you want?" He held the beer up high so that none of it would fly out of the already open can.

"You need to get information on Mr. Watanabe, we think he's the culprit behind the disappearances."

"Oh. Who's Mr. Watanabe?" Godai cautiously brought his can back down and took a sip of his beer.

"He's my teacher." Yako replied, not that her answer helped him much. Just as Godai was going to complain that her answer had not given him anymore of a clue as to who this Mr. Watanabe guy really was Neuro threw a piece of paper at Godai.

"What the hell man?" Godai grabbed what had been thrown at him and took a closer look at it; it was in fact a picture of a handsome, middle aged man with brown hair and wearing a black suit. The picture looked as if it had been taken without the man's knowledge. "Who's this?"

"Oh that's Mr. Watanabe." Yako pointed to the picture. "How did you get this Neuro?" She asked, turning to him.

"That's none of your business slave." Neuro answered and Yako crossed her arms.

"Oh alright." Godai slipped the picture into his trouser pocket and finished off his beer, throwing the empty can in a nearby bin. "I should be able to get some information on him with this then but I'm doing this for Yako not you, monster." Godai slammed the door as he left.


	11. Chapter Eleven: Solved

I do not own Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro.

Just reminding you that I changed chapter eight on the 16/06/2012. Finally another mystery finished; yay. Poor Yako, Neuro's a big tease sometimes; we all think you're beautiful.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Neuro had been about to have a nap when Godai, his second servant, dropped a pile of papers in front of him. "That's all I could find on Mr. Watanabe or whatever his name is." Godai shrugged and looked around the office, finding nothing out of the usual. "Hey, can I leave now?" Neuro didn't really care about anything right at that moment, except getting a good night's sleep, but that would have to wait till after the case was solved. He waved Godai off, not feeling any need to wind him up at the present moment.

As Yako watched Godai leave the office she sighed. It wasn't fair that he should be allowed to leave, if she asked Neuro for a break she'd most likely get turned into the dog food Neuro left out for Godai.

Neuro took up the papers and read through them quickly before tossing them to the side. "I see."

"What?" Yako looked up from the couch where she was sat on the office couch. Neuro sighed and tapped the papers with one of his fingers.

"Read." Neuro said sleepily. Yako got up and crossed the office, taking up the sheets of paper and examining them closely. The papers included everything from birth and marriage certificates to medical information. Yako couldn't believe this was the same man who taught her at school each week. Mr. Watanabe had married at a young age to a female model, named Ayumi, and they'd had a child together, a girl called Amaya, the year after. The girl had gone into the modelling agency at the age of 10. Unfortunately, a car crash resulted in his wife's death and the mutation of his child's face, which crushed Amaya's dreams of ever becoming a model. As Yako read on tears formed in the corners of her eyes and one rolled down her cheek. "What is it now servant number one?"

Neuro was looking at her disapprovingly, he didn't understand why his servant would always cry at such things; humans were so confusing. "It's nothing." Yako smiled and quickly wiped away the tears with her sleeve. "Neuro."

"What?"

Yako paused before she spoke. "How are we meant to prove that Mr. Watanabe's the murderer?" Neuro's hand flew forward and wrapped around the back of her head, he pulled her over to his desk and pinched her nose.

"Aren't you the detective?" His eyes flashed in warning. Yako thought back to some of the previous cases she and Neuro had solved and the ways they had gone about it, it took her a few moments to think up a plan. "Well, we could use someone as bait." Yako paused. "Though, I'm not sure anyone I know would be up to it."

"Oh?" Neuro's eyes were fixed on Yako and she regretted ever mentioning 'human bait'.

Yako had pulled up a chair in the corner of the office so she could concentrate on how to go about her job; she decided that she'd have to try her hardest to convince the teacher to take her somewhere alone, which would build temptation for him, the murderer, to strike. "Ok Neuro, I think I know how to do it." Yako said with deep determination. "I'll start tomorrow at school."

Neuro's pupils had shrunk to easily half the size they usually were and he was wearing a removed expression. "There's only one problem." He took out another file of papers and tossed them at Yako. They were all pictures of beautiful young girls, one of which was Akiko. Yako looked over at Neuro, wondering what flaw he'd found in her plan. "He only seems to target attractive girls."

"What's that supposed to mean?" shouted Yako who then covered her mouth, she'd forgotten the window was open and she'd spoken so loud there was no doubt everyone in Tokyo had heard her.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Yako was sat at her desk, she couldn't help glancing up at Mr. Watanabe now and then; 'till recently he'd been her physics teacher, the man her friend had said was hot and the guy who could make any lesson boring. Now however, this was the man who had murdered her friend Kanae years ago and was behind all the disappearances that were occurring.

He was Yako's enemy.

She wished it hadn't been Mr. Watanabe, Akane's murderer, who took the girls, after all that would mean they were dead. Poor Akiko. All hope that the girls may still be alive somewhere had vanished the moment she'd found out the culprit was a cold blooded killer.

As time dragged on Yako began to nibble on the edge of her nails, she knew her mum would disapprove but at the moment she was feeling so nervous about her plans she couldn't help it. On the plus side, she was the most aware she'd ever been in his class.

"Can you all please finish this worksheet for Monday." Mr. Watanabe left a pile of work sheets on his desk and waited as all his pupils got up to get one.

As Yako reached for her sheet Mr. Watanabe grabbed her wrist, she could feel a scream building up in her gut. "May I see you after class Miss Katsuragi?" Her teacher smiled and released her wrist; it took Yako a few moments before she nodded in agreement. What was there to be worried about, wasn't being alone with him the whole point of being human bait?

As the rest of the class flooded out of the room Yako sat with her hands clasped together on her lap, head hung. She was confused as to why she was so frightened, he wouldn't try anything in a school building, the risk of getting caught would be too big.

The door shut behind the last of Yako's classmates. "Yako, can I see the work you've done today?" Mr. Watanabe held his hand out to her.

"Oh." The truth was Yako had been so worried about everything she hadn't written a word in her text book; oh God. She slipped the book out of her bag and places it Mr. Watanabe's hand. He looked through it quickly.

"I'm not seeing your work from today in here." Yako's teacher narrowed his eyes and she blushed out of embarrassment.

"Well you see, I was really stuck and I was too shy to put my hand up. Could you help me?" Perfect, this had turned out to be an opening for plan 'human bait'.

Yako waited for Mr. Watanabe's reaction but as he didn't give one Yako began getting nervous; had she asked too much? Her teachers face softened and he grinned at her. "I see. I never knew you were the shy type." I never knew you were the murdering type, thought Yako. "How about we have a coffee together and I take you through your chemical equations personally?"

"Oh, of course." She was surprised at how easy that had been; she'd expected it to be much harder, besides, what sort of teacher doesn't give you a scolding for not doing your class work?

"And Yako," said Mr. Watanabe as she was leaving the room. "You have a detention next Thursday for slacking in class." So, it was too good to be true.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

"What's this?" Asked Yako and Neuro fastened something small inside her shirt pocket, just hidden from the naked eye. Neuro didn't answer her for a moment while he re-arranged the contraption.

"It's a camera. How did you expect we were going to find you, or do you think we'd just let you be killed for the sake of the mystery?" Yako narrowed her eyes, now that he'd mentioned it she wouldn't be surprised if he would let her die for a mystery.

Once everything was set Neuro shoved Yako out of the office and she set off for the café where she and Mr. Watanabe had agreed to meet up.

"Ah, Yako." Mr. Watanabe waved from where he sat around a little white table in the corner of the café far away from anyone else.

It was now or never. "I'm sorry, did I keep you waiting?"

The two talked for a long while, both of them forgetting completely about the school work, be that on purpose or not. Yako had to admit that he was a lot easier to listen to outside of class, not that that mattered in the circumstances.

It was starting to get dark and there were dark rain clouds hanging over the café, Yako took her science book out and opening it on last week's page. "So I was having trouble wi-"

Yako was cut off by Mr. Watanabe. "Oh dear; I must have left the important notes I was going to give you at home, they aren't in my bag. I'll go get them quick, you want to tag along it's getting quite dark. We can continue our little chat at my house." Yako gulped, this was not a time to worry; it was just that ever since she was a child she was told never to go along with people you don't know well, though she was sure Neuro was more dangerous to be around than a stranger.

"Oh ok, sure." Yako nodded nervously, she had to go through with this to get proof that her teacher was the murderer. As the two approached Mr. Watanabe's car Yako noticed that its colour stood out above all else; it was bright red.

Once Yako had eased herself through the small vehicle doors Mr. Watanabe stared the car. The trip led them out of the city and onto a thin dirt road, which couldn't have been good for the tires, it was covered in small stones and Yako even saw a stray cat dart across the road as they drove.

There was a growing problem however, a wire off the camera was rubbing against Yako's chest and it was growing quite itchy. She could not scratch it no matter what, that would give away everything; oh but there was so much temptation.

She closed her eyes, trying to block out the feeling, the knaggy, itchy, horrible feeling.

The number of trees they passed multiplied in a few minutes and soon they were surrounded. In the middle of the trees was small wooden shack, it was falling apart and looked like it had been left abandoned for years. "This is your house?" Yako asked unbelievingly.

"Yep." Mr. Watanabe grinned. "This is about as good as it gets for me. Shall we?" He gestured toward the door. Yako's teacher led her into a small room, hardly bigger than a broom closet, thought Yako. Dust covered all the furniture and the stench was awful, it smelled like rotting meat.

"Wait here a moment I-" Mr. Watanabe flicked a switch and light filled the room. However, the light from the ceiling lamp that hung directly over Yako shone down and reflected off the lovely shining screen of Yako's hidden camera. Her teacher took a step closer, eyes fixed on the camera. "What is that?" His lips curled back and he reached for it, ripping it out of her shirt pocket. "You little,"

Yako was scared. She was extremely scared, nothing she'd gone through before compared to this; except maybe Neuro's tortures. In her teachers eyes she saw pure hate. He raised his hand, about to strike her, Yako squeezed her eyes shut, it would all be over soon.

She waited for the blow.

Yako had been waiting for a while now and she opened one of her eyes. She screamed. Neuro's smiling face was the first thing she saw and for once, even though he'd just frightened her half to death, she was actually relieved to see him.

Neuro had grabbed Mr. Watanabe's wrist just as he was about to strike Yako, now Yako's teacher was struggling in Neuro's grip. "Let me go, you!" Yako flung him to the side, probably damaging a few more of the floorboards as he did so. "Ow,"

"The murderer is YOU!" The usual green aura surrounded Yako's arm as it lifted, controlled by her boss, the demon detective.

Neuro stepped forward, ignoring the horrified look that Mr. Watanabe gave him. "You have murdered countless times. You became a teacher to be inconspicuous, a person nobody would have suspected. Although you probably made the girls swear never to tell anyone about what they saw a girl can't always keep her mouth shut; to the parents each of the girls made a relatively valid excuse however, from the information sensei gathered many of the victims had spoken to friend beforehand and told them they were out to meet a boyfriend. Also, the red car you drive; there have been many reports of a red care driving past late at night, to a location nobody knew of, this car was yours and it was the vehicle in which you carried your prey to the slaughter." Neuro flashed a quick look at Yako, implying that she was also part of what he called 'prey'. "You first seduced the girls and agreed to take them out on a date and what sort of young girl would tell their parents that they were going out to see their teacher on a date? This is why you used seduction, it was a way for you to keep secrecy; though it didn't quite work, did it? You would take them by car to this secluded house where you would convince them to come in side. This is the murder site. Sensei took time to investigate the house, you may notice that outside there is a switch that seems out of place and after following the wires connected to it, it led sensei to a large container of deadly gas."

Neuro looked to the corner of the room and pointed a finger towards a pile poking out from the wall. "A container of deadly gas with a pipe attached that leads right into this room. You would leave the girls inside and carefully lock the door, as anyone would have noticed the lock on the door is on the outside. You would then turn on the flow of deadly gas which would effectively kill the victim. That's what sensei said" Neuro grinned. "Sensei also took the liberty of showing a picture of your face to many of the people who knew the victims in all different parts of Japan, where the disappearances occurred. You have many different identities don't you Mr. Kurokawa?" Yako's teacher flinched as he was called by his true name.

Neuro stepped forward and punched his fist through the wall. "And this is where you hid the bodies." Yako closed her eyes as a corpse dropped out of the wall; it was something she would avoid looking at no matter what.

"B-but-" Mr. Watanabe, or rather, Mr. Kurokawa stammered.

There was a pause where Yako would normally give the motive, but she didn't know. As she stood in thought something dawned on her. "They're all beautiful." Neuro looked at Yako like she'd gone mad.

"They're all beautiful! Your daughter and wife were in an accident, your child survived but with severe damage to the face, she'd wanted to become a model, isn't that right? You were killing beautiful people so that your daughter would be beautiful among those who were left." Yako scowled, wondering how a man could plan on killing every attractive person there was, he must have been insane."

The murderer's eyes grew dark and his hair began to grow longer and white, his back curved slightly. He looked like he was growing older by the second, a man aged with sadness. He reached for something in his pocket and pulled it out, it was a small box with a blue button in the middle. "I won't leave without a fight. This button activated the gas, we will all die in here together." The man pressed the button and everyone in the room was motionless waiting for the impact of his actions.

Nothing happened.

"Do you think sensei wouldn't have already disconnected your gas contained by now?" Neuro ginned and stepped forward, the lights flickered off. Neuro's head transformed into its true form. "You wanted your daughter to be happy, so you could once again feel joy. If that's was all you wanted then I shall grant your wish." Neuro grinned. "777 Tools of the demon world; evil joy!" He paused and then carried on as a small beetle like creature latched onto the criminal's arm. "This creature will give you such a burst of raw pleasure that your human body will not be able to cope with it and you will go into shock."

The man screamed.

"Itadakimasu" Neuro's head clamped down over the murderer and he consumed the mystery.

As the police arrived and took hold of the criminal Yako thought she could see a tear roll down his eyes and he was carried from the room, she felt sorry for him in a way. "Neuro." She turned to her boss.

"What?" He looked down at her.

"How did you know where the bodies were?" She raised an eyebrow in question.

"Couldn't you smell the stench back there?" Neuro asked and Yako felt foolish for asking such an obvious question.


	12. Chapter Twelve: Torment

I do not own Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro.

I'd say I want to go to a theme park with Neuro but I probably wouldn't survive. Favourite chapter of all.

Reviews are appreciated.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

"Wow, it's so big!" Yako's eyes widened as she entered the theme park. A roller coaster set off and Yako could hear the screams of those riding it. Parents were trying desperately to control their kids, everyone was laughing and smiling; people were eating popcorn and candy floss, yum.

Yako had wanted to bring Kanae but unfortunately she'd been pre-occupied; after all when you're dating the cutest guy in the school you don't have time to go to theme parks, right?

Neuro's fist came down on Yako's head. "Ow. What was that for?" She looked up at her boss and frowned, rubbing the sore spot on her head and running her fingers through her hair to make sure it wasn't going to fall out.

"You're day dreaming."

"I am not, I'm totally aware of what's going on around me." Yako walked into someone. "Oh, oops; sorry."

"Totally aware huh?" Neuro grinned, his amusement shown through his voice.

Yako huffed. "So, what should we go on first? Oh look there's the carousel!" She grabbed Neuro and pulled him over. "I used to love going on this as a kid." She joined the line. The horses were in all different positions, some with their legs out stretched as if jumping and some looked as if they were standing still. Each of the horses had their individual colours and name plates.

When it was Yako's turn to get on she looked over at Neuro. He wasn't there. She could have sworn he was there a minute ago; Yako shrugged and decided to go on without him. She went to sit on a pretty sand coloured horse; it had a white mane and it looked as if it was running, the name plate told her it was called Peachy. In the centre of its back a lovely golden bar ran upwards and joined the top of the carousel.

"Please do not remove your feet from the stirrups and keep your hands on the bar or reins at all times." A man said from the ticket booth. Yako had been on these before, she knew they didn't go fast and that taking your hands off the bar wasn't a big danger, but she didn't want to get in trouble so she wrapped her hands around it tightly.

"This better be worth it."

"Neuro?" Yako looked over her shoulder and sure enough, there he was. He was stat on the back of her horse, a grin plastered on his face.

"Hold on or you're going to get in trouble." Neuro gave her a do-I-have-to? look and sighed. He took a hold of the reins but his legs were too long for his feet to fit comfortably in the second set of stirrups so he just let his legs dangle instead.

The ride began, slowly at first. Yako thought the ride was speeding up a little too soon, normally on a carousel it would take two or three minutes to reach its full speed but it hadn't even been going for one minute and Yako's hand's were already tightening around the bar.

When the ride didn't stop speeding up Yako was getting worried. She looked back at Neuro who seemed unimpressed by the ride.

The horse was now travelling so fast that Yako couldn't even see past her nose. She heard a baby laugh hysterically from the horse in front, it's mother was trying desperately to keep it from flying off the ride.

Once the ride had come to a stop Yako stumbled off, she could hardly walk. "They aren't meant to go that fast."

Neuro yawned. "I thought it would speed up a little longer, especially after I tampered with it." A child who had been on the horse opposite Yako's was sick.

"You tampered with it?" Yako was horrified, all sorts of things could have gone wrong.

"How else am I meant to make things more interesting?" Yako rubbed her temples and sighed.

Neuro tugged Yako into a short queue. It was a ghost train and it was massive. It was shaped as an old castle, with ghost and ghouls hanging from the ceiling. The floors moved and monsters lined the entrance. Yako shook her head and gulped. "No, there is no way I'm going on that."

"Are you scared?"Neuro's eyes flashed.

"Uh, n-no not at all" Yako scratched the back of her head and put on her brave face. "I mean, it's all fake; right?" She walked forward as the line shortened. A young child came off the ride crying and Yako took a step back, was she really ready for this?

They were next in line and as an ugly looking cart pulled up Yako was having second thoughts."Can't we go on something else? I mean there are plenty of other rides."

"No." Neuro dragged her into the cart. A man fastened Yako in and cautioned her about getting out of the cart or dangling her arms and legs out it. When everyone was safely fastened in and one parent had taken her screaming child off the ride it began. Yako closed her eyes.

Neuro pushed her eyelids up. "If you don't look then how can you enjoy the ride." Yako sank further down in her seat.

The ride had several sharp turns and Yako screamed as vampires, witches and monsters popped out of nowhere. She was slightly embarrassed for being so frightened, Neuro had hardly made a sound since they got on, except the occasional sigh.

She looked over at him. His seatbelt had been left fastened but he was nowhere to be seen. She looked around. "Neuro? Neuro? Where are you?" she said, trying not to raise her voice too load.

As the ride was about to come to an end something, with glowing green eyes, dropped from the ceiling. Yako screamed once again. "Are you trying to make me deaf Louse?"

"Neuro, is that you? Your eyes; they're glowing." Neuro stood up in the cart.

"I know; they do that sometimes."

Yako shivered though she wasn't surprised, Neuro had many weird qualities. "Where have you been?"

"I was bored so I thought I'd explore a bit." He smirked.

Yako and Neuro went to see the pictures that had been taken during the ride. Their picture had caught the exact moment of Neuro's leaving the cart. His eyes glowing green. The picture number was 6302 and Yako paid for a copy of it. She could use it to blackmail Neuro, if he tried to torture her she could show his glowing eyes to all her friends.

However, as Yako was walking, Neuro took the picture off her and slipped it in his bag. "Thank you very much."

"Come and try out these new wacky mirrors, you'll be amazed at how much your reflection can change!" Yako stopped.

"I love them. Can we go see it Neuro?" Neuro shrugged and the two made their way over to the mirrors.

Each mirror made Yako's reflection change. One made her look tall and thin, the other short and fat; she preferred the first one more. One of the mirrors even made it look like there were two of her joined together.

As Yako was admiring herself in a mirror that curled her body in a strange position Neuro came to stand behind her. Yako was stunned; Neuro's reflection didn't change at all. She pulled him over to mirror after mirror, and his reflection didn't change in any of them. "How are you doing that?" She asked him.

"Doing what?"

"That." She pointed to his reflection. "Yours doesn't change at all."

"Why should I let it?" He grinned.

"Well, at least you have a reflection. I was half expecting you not to have one, like a vampire." Yako said, laughing at her stupidity; Neuro's a demon not a vampire, different rules apply.

"Like this?" Yako looked over her shoulder and her jaw dropped. Neuro was stood right behind her; but in the mirror, he had no reflection at all.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Yako was picking at her fifth Candy floss, it was almost all gone. She ate all that was left of it and threw the empty candyfloss stick in the first bin she saw. "To the planes." She pointed forward.

The cue was short and so Yako and Neuro got on the next turn. As the ride started Yako was having a great time. The ride wasn't too fast or too slow and she loved the way the wind felt as it blew past her face. It was a little cold but she didn't mind that.

"It's much more fun if you sit here." Neuro said. Yako looked across at him and her eyes opened wide.

"What are you doing? You might fall." Neuro was sat on one of the plane's wings. "You're crazy." Neuro got to his feet, Yako gasped. He was walking upside down underneath the plane.

"It's really much better here, why don't you join me?" Neuro's arm shot out from underneath the plane and grabbed hold of Yako. He tried tugging her out. Yako screamed and grabbed hold of the side of the plane for dear life.

When the planes came to a finish, Yako had managed to stay inside it the whole time, they made their way toward a boat ride. "My friends say this is a really fun ride." Yako practically skipped over to it.

Neuro had his arms crossed. It was getting later and so there was only one family in the queue. Yako took her seat happily next to Neuro; finally, this ride couldn't go wrong.

The boat took them through different rooms where scenes were being displayed. There was an icy room where cold air was blown around and a warm one where the water began boiling. When Yako turned to look at Neuro she jumped.

She was looking a strange person in the eye. When Yako got a hold of herself she realised that Neuro had taken the head off one of the fake plastic figures they had standing around in the different rooms and was now holding its head up in front of his.

Neuro chuckled. "You are so easy to scare Pea Brain."

Yako heard a scream from the boat behind theirs and one of the people on it exclaimed. "It has no head!" Yako shook her head and chuckled.

As the ride dragged on Yako realised that Neuro wasn't making any noise. When she looked over she saw that he'd fallen asleep, oh god.

Some dribble had rolled down his mouth and was about to drop to the bottom of the boat. Yako remembered what happened last time his dribble had gone on her bed; she looked down at the floor of the wooden boat.

"Oh god. Neuro, please don't dribble." Too late.

The dribble fell and burnt a hole though the boat's floor. Water rushed though the hole and began filling up the boat. "Neuro, Neuro, wake up!" Yako shook his arm. "We're sinking!"

Neuro opened one of his eyes. "What is it now Louse?"

She huffed. "Your dribble burned a hole in the bottom of the boat." Yako put her legs up on the seat to stop them from getting any wetter.

"Are you saying that I dribble?" Neuro narrowed his eyes.

"Yes." Yako pointed to the water that surrounded his black shoes. "How else do you explain that?"

"I was asleep; it's you who should be explaining things." Neuro poked her cheek. The two got off the boat and made their way out of the ride on foot. Just as they were exiting Neuro shoved Yako into the water.

As people walked past Neuro and Yako they muttered quietly to themselves, Yako couldn't hear what they were saying but she could take an accurate guess at it. There was a demon, with weird hair and bright green eyes, walking beside a girl, who was now looking like a drowned rat.

"Let's go on that." Yako was surprised; Neuro was actually suggesting they go on something. When she saw what he wanted to go on she shook her head and gulped. It was the theme parks newest ride; going at speeds of over one hundred and one miles an hour and with five loops. People said that nobody had ever been on the ride twice. It had severe drops and at one point it even went backwards.

The amusement park was almost closed and so Neuro easily got on. He'd reassured Yako that he was going to go on this one alone and Yako had agreed. However, when the ride began Neuro reached out and grabbed Yako, he threw her down in the seat next to his.

Yako screamed and tried to bring the bar down; it was stuck. Neuro sighed and grabbed the bar; he pushed it down for her. "Thanks." Yako now knew what a near death experience felt like. As they went through the first set of loops Yako grabbed Neuro's hand and held it tightly. She began to scream as the ride sped up and Neuro used his free hand to cover his ear.

They went through the second set of loops, Neuro was yawing. He'd thought it would go a little faster. He put his legs up on the front of the cart. People looking on pointed at Neuro and covered their mouths; looks like he was going to be on the front page of some newspapers.

When the ride finished Neuro turned to Yako. "You can let go now."

Yako looked down at her hand, which was still holding Neuro's tightly, she then looked up at him again. "I can't move my fingers."

Neuro grinned. "If you don't let go we're going to have to ride this again." Yako felt sick and quickly scramble out of the cart. "Looks like everything's closing, maybe we should go home?"

"Mhm." Neuro stretched out his fingers as they made their way to the exit; Yako had a tight grasp when she was scared. "Maybe we should do this again some time." Neuro placed his hand on Yako's head and squeezed.


	13. Chapter Thirteen: Romeo

I do not own Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro.

Sorry for the wait, my imagination switched off for a while. Hopefully it's back for good now. Please review.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

It was impossible. Last week Yako had been assigned the most important role in the school's yearly performance of 'Romeo and Juliet' and no matter how much she tried she could not learn her lines. Her drama teacher had trusted her with the part of Juliet but as Yako looked at the gigantic script she wondered how anyone could ever learn the lines off by heart.

She'd spend the last few days with her eyes almost always stuck to the script, reading the lines over and over, but the lines would not stick in her head. Now as she looked down at the script each world looked like gibberish to her and worse, she'd been up all night worrying about the play. Now, sleep deprived and worried about the play that would be preformed next week, Yako could not concentrate.

Yako grabbed her cell phone, which had been balanced awkwardly on the edge of her bed side table, and dialled Kanae's number. Following a few rings she heard the sound of an answer phone; the sound was familiar and also incredibly vexing. Yako sighed and concentrated again on her script.

After a few moments her cell rang and she took it up in her hand, happy to see that it was Kanae calling. "Hello Kanae." Yako tossed her script down on the nearest table.

"Hey Yako, you called?" In the background Yako could hear the voice of Kanae's parent's; they were speaking quickly so Yako couldn't hear what they were saying.

"Erm, yes. I was wondering if you could come over to my house and help me learn this script? But, if you're busy, I'll understand."

"Sure, I'm free. I'll come over right now. One sec," Yako heard Kanae fumble with something on the other end. "Ok, just got my bag. Be there before you know it. Bye." Kanae hung up.

It actually took Kanae quite a while to get to Yako's house. When Yako let her friend in, Kanae was out of breath and looked half dead. "Sorry, I had to rush here. My parents wanted to talk to me before I left." Kanae slipped off her jacket and slung it over the banister. "So, where's this script?"

Kanae made her way upstairs, following Yako. When they got into Yako's bedroom Yako took up her script and passed it to Kanae. There was silence for a while as Kanae read the script. "So, I heard your parents talking over the phone, what was that about?"Yako asked, trying to start a conversation.

Kanae looked up. "Oh," She chuckled. "Well they've been stressing out about this trip we're going on next week. The Saturday after next we're all going down to my cousin's house. But, we need someone to look after the cat while we're away; we haven't found anyone to do that yet." Yako thought for a moment, she was sure her mum wouldn't mind it if it was only for a day or so.

"I could look after it, are you coming back on Sunday..?"

"Really? Thank you Yako, I know you'll be really good at taking care of Princess; she's just the sweetest little thing. Oh, of course I'll be back by Sunday. I can pick her up on Sunday morning." Kanae was overjoyed that she'd have her best friend look after Princess; she just hoped Yako wouldn't over-feed her.

Hours had past and it was time for Kanae to leave. The two girls had completely forgotten about the script and so Yako was no closer to her goal.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

The school bell rang and everyone was in a rush to get home, except for Yako. Drama had been the last lesson that day and so Yako took it as a perfect chance to change her role. She waited till she and her teacher were the only two left in the classroom and then approached him. "Sir, I was wondering if I could talk to you about my role in the school play?"

"Ah yes Yako, I hope you're not finding any problems with it." Her drama teacher smiled.

"Erm well actually, I'm finding it hard to learn the lines," Yako was about to request an easier role when her drama teacher cut in.

"This is very upsetting news, I was sure you could handle something like this."The teacher shrugged. "I suppose I'll need to cancel the play..." Yako searched the man's face for any sign that he was joking but to her dismay he looked perfectly serious. She couldn't ruin the play for everyone else.

"Oh, it's fine sir." Yako smiled reassuringly. "I'll handle it myself; I promise I'll be ready to perform by next Monday." Though she spoke with confidence she was filled with doubt, how could she learn the whole script of by heart in only a couple of days. Oh well, she'd made a promise now so she'd better get reciting.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Yako rushed into the office, she was a little late, little being an understatement. "Sorry I'm la-" Neuro cut Yako off, stretching his hand out to her and closing it over the front of her face. He squeezed. "Owowow!" Yako cried and tried in vain to prise his hand away. "Neuro stop." Neuro took a few steps closer so that he stood over his servant and leant down so there faces were almost in alignment, almost because Neuro would always make sure he was looking down on her, even by an inch.

"You've kept me waiting again; I shall have to punish you properly." His smile widened and he removed his hand from Yako's face.

"Oh, ha-ha. Look Neuro, I'm really sorry." Yako slipped past Neuro. Her boss decided he'd save punishment for later when she least expected it, that way he'd have more fun watching her reactions. The young detective took a seat on the couch, glad she'd gotten away unharmed, or rather, less harmed than she might have been. Yako took the script out of her bag and began reading.

Hours went by and Neuro was beginning to get aggravated, Yako hadn't looked up once, what could possibly be more interesting than work? After a couple more minutes the demon got to his feet and approached Yako, who was still nose deep in the booklet she held. When the louse didn't immediately look up at Neuro he grabbed the booklet she'd been reading off her and was about to tear it when a terrified Yako shouted at him in warming. "Neuro stop it! That's really important." It was less the words but more the look on her face that made Neuro re-think his actions, instead of ripping it he scanned the writing quickly.

A few minutes had past and Neuro finally put the script down. "This is important? I don't see how this human scrap could be."

Yako's jaw set. "It's not scrap it's a very famous play and besides, I've got to learn all of my lines by Monday." When Yako didn't see any change in Neuro's expression she continued. "There's no way anybody could learn this in just a couple of days."

"Maybe not for a weakling like yourself but for me it is absolutely possible." Neuro poked Yako's cheek and proceeded to recite the whole play back to her. Yako watched in wide-eyed disbelief. When Neuro had finished he looked down at Yako and almost jumped. Her eyes were sparkling. "What is it now, louse?"

"You don't think that maybe, possibly, you could help me learn my lines?"

Neuro was quite enjoying her begging and so he stood there a moment, watching her, before crushing all her hopes. "No."

"Please?" Yako begged again.

"No."

"Please?"

This went on for quite a while, Neuro had tried various methods to get her to shut up, one of which was duck taping her mouth closed, but still she found a way to get her message across.

Finally Neuro gave in. "Fine. If you promise never to ask me for anything ever again."

"Promise." Yako new she'd break the promise at some time in the future but he would've forgotten about it by then, she hoped.

The rest of the day Yako was put through constant training, they recited the lines over and over together. Sometimes though, a giggle would escape. She couldn't help finding Neuro a little funny playing the part of Romeo; it didn't quite suit him somehow.

At one point Neuro had spotted Yako slacking and had clipped her ear, not hard enough to bruise but it had made Yako jump. "Ow, Neuro what are you doing?"

"You were slacking again. No wonder a lowly human like you could never learn this script alone." Yako glared at him.

I'm not slacking."

The next thing that went wrong was that a couple of minutes later Yako was daydreaming, again. However, this time, she wasn't concentrating on where she was going and accidentally tripped over her shoes. The worst part was that instead of landing on the floor she fell directly into a rather annoyed Neuro.

It took Yako a moment to take it all in and when she did she was filled with terror. She'd just fallen onto a demon! When she finally sucked up the courage to look up at Neuro her gaze was met with his bright green eyes, which flashed in warning at her. She scrambled to get back up.

The next couple of days went rather smoothly. Each day Yako would come to the office and she and her boss would practice the play over and over, the young detective was starting to feel confident with her role. When Monday arrived Yako was absolutely curtain she knew all the lines. Of course, Monday was only a school rehearsal of the play and so, if she messed up, she'd have another chance to get it right.

Unfortunately, Neuro had insisted he tag along. He wanted to make sure she didn't mess up after weeks of him wasting his time to tutor her. If she did, a lengthy punishment would be waiting for her back at the office.

At the school rehearsal Yako preformed perfectly. She never thought she'd actually be thankful for anything Neuro did. Talking about Neuro, the demon had been sat directly in front of the stage and had been mouthing all the words as they were spoken; Yako's drama teacher had taken quite a liking to him. Neuro had already explained that if it weren't for his constant training Yako would never have been able to perform so well.

That night Yako snuggled up into bed, content with knowing that all would go well tomorrow when the actual play was being preformed. She fell asleep almost instantaneously.

School seemed like a year packed into one small day. Yako was sat through her history class, watching the clock at the head of the classroom rather than her teacher. She was totally oblivious to what was being said. In only a few second the bell would ring and she'd be off to act out the part of Juliet in front of an audience that would fill the school hall.

3. 2. 1.

The bell rang and immediately the class started to stuff books, pencil cases and even some makeup cases back into their bags. Yako didn't think she'd ever gotten out of a classroom so fast before.

She hurried over to the hall where she met up with a panicked drama teacher. He was pacing behind the stage curtain, sweat layering his forehead. "We're going to have to cancel." He kept repeating those same words.

"What's wrong?" Asked Yako.

The drama teacher stared at her for a moment. "The boy who was playing Romeo just called in sick, he can't make it."

Yako couldn't believe it. All the work she'd put into learning those lines and it was all going to be for nothing. Just then her drama teacher spotted Neuro walking in through the main hall's doors; he hurried over to greet the demon.

"Ah, Mr. Nougami. Welcome." As the drama teacher spoke his face lit up with an idea. "Erm, the young man who was going to act out Romeo called and said he couldn't come today, you don't think you could stand in for him do you?"

Neuro's eyes widened. "Oh I couldn't."

"Of course you could." The drama teacher led Neuro back stage.

It had all been settled, the play would not be cancelled and Neuro Nougami would be acting Romeo. Yako gulped. This was a disaster waiting to happen. She stepped out onto the stage and began acting. It was quite a strange feeling, having all those eyes on you. It made the detective feel nervous but also filled her with a determination; she would not let these people down.

Neuro's acting was flawless, in fact, it was so good that Yako almost got sucked in; though, she knew what he was really like. It went a lot better than the rehearsal and Yako was actually enjoying herself.

"Then move not, while my prayer's effect I take." Neuro spoke. There was a pause and Yako waited intently for Neuro to make the next move. Nothing happened. A couple of people in the audience whispered to each other. Yako mouthed to Neuro. 'You're meant to kiss me.'

He just stared back at her. Yako took a step forward. 'Do it quickly, everyone's staring.' Yako mouthed in panic. Neuro backed off the stage followed by an aggravated Yako who was by now shouting. "Neuro, kiss me!" Though as Neuro was watching Yako he didn't see where he was going and fell off the stage, Yako following close after him.

The curtains were drawn and the audience began applauding, laughing their heads off while doing so. Yako heard what a few of them were saying. "Best comedy I've ever seen."

"You think they messed up, or was that planned?"

"It must've been planned."

"I don't know..."

Yako blushed with embarrassment.


	14. Chapter Fourteen: Late

I do not own Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro.

So, it's finally here, Chapter 14. I've had to re-write this chapter a few times due to the cat and not knowing what to do with it. Hope you enjoy.

Reviews are much appreciated. :D

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Yako jumped, bashing her head on the bed stead. "Ow." She closed her eyes and tried not to think about the pain, rubbing the back of her head to check there wasn't a bump. She hadn't a clue what she'd been dreaming about but by the looks of it, Neuro must have come into it somewhere.

She buried her head in her pillow; there was no way she was going to get up now. Her alarm clock still hadn't gone off so she must have at least five minutes left. She closed her eyes and dozed off again.

The detective was startled when a loud buzzing sound cut through her peaceful slumber, she fell out of bed. "Wu-what?" Yako looked around still not understanding what had just happened, not even sure if she was awake yet. It took her a few moments to get her thoughts clear. "Oh god, five minutes went by like five seconds.

Getting up, she made her way over to her wardrobe. She opened it and routed through the clothes that were hanging inside, she didn't have a large collection of clothes so it was relatively easy to find what she needed. She grabbed her favourite pair of jeans and the first shirt she could find and threw them onto her bed. She had one hour to have a shower, wash her hair, get dressed and fit in a couple more minutes for snoozing before Kanae arrived.

Yako tugged off her pyjamas and made her way to the bathroom. She stepped into the shower and grabbed the shower-head, turning the water on. It took much less time than Yako expected to wash her hair, it was short and easier to maintain than it had been before she'd cut it. Besides, Yako was used to short hair by now, it had been years since she'd let it grow longer than shoulder length.

Once she'd finished washing she dried her hair and tugged on the jeans and top she'd selected earlier. She quickly went through her hair with a brush and then slipped her favourite hairclips in. After looking in the mirror and making sure she wasn't a disaster she made her way over to the bed and collapsed onto it. "I should've made sure I got more sleep, I'm so tired!" Yako groaned and hugged her pillow tightly.

It took Yako only a few seconds to fall back asleep. "Unicorns?" Yako tossed and turned atop her bed. "Cho-chocolate unicorns?" She drooled uncontrollably.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

"Give me back my chocolate unicorn!" Yako shouted at the top of her lungs, shooting up into a sitting position on her bed. Her eyes adjusted to the light quickly and she looked around confused. "Only a dream, huh?"

Knock. Knock. Knock.

"Oh God, Kanae." She scrambled out of bed and rushed for the door. "I'm coming, one second!" Yako was running so fast that one could almost spot a cloud of dust following behind her as she went. When she reached the door she flung it open without hesitation.

In the doorway stood a smiling Kanae, arms cradling a small ginger cat as if it were a baby. "Yako, this is Princess, my cat. She's very sweet so I think you two will get along really well." Kanae stroked Princess fondly. "It's really such a pity to part with her, even if it's only for a day. I would have left her at home only Princess has this bad habit of knocking things over and mum's worried that one day she'll knock over something that's not easily replaceable so you see, we couldn't really leave her un-supervised."

Yako held out her hands for the cat. "Can I hold her?" Kanae nodded and transferred the cat into her friend's outstretched arms. "Wow, she's really soft." The young detective commented, petting the cat affectionately.

Kanae looked back over to where her parents were parked, her mum waved her over. "Ah look, I really need to go. Take care." Kanae turned away to leave. "Oh, one more thing; what was it you said about chocolate unicorns?" Yako's friend raised her eyebrow.

Yako blushed. "You heard that? It was nothing really, just me blabbering." Kanae looked unconvinced but shrugged it off.

"See you tomorrow then, and you too Princess. Be good for mummy." Kanae said and kissed the cat's cheek.

Mummy? Yako shook her head and waved at Kanae as she made her way over to her car. When Yako was sure Kanae had left she turned back and went inside, closing the door behind herself. Looking after Princess would be easy and what's better, there was no work today.

When Yako got inside she felt the small animal squirm and wriggle in her arms. "Hey shh, calm down." Not knowing what to do Yako rushed over to her living room couch and put Princess down carefully, not wanting the cat to jump from her arms just in case it hurt itself. After all, she didn't know much about cats so it would be best to be overly protective.

She looked down at the cat wondering what to do now.

It stared back at her.

There was a pause where the two locked eyes. Yako stared into the cat's wide eyes, wondering what it wanted from her. She waited for it to look away but as time passed she wasn't so sure it would.

Stare.

Finally the cat poked out its little pink tongue and licked its lips, eyes still locked on Yako. The detective let out a sigh. So, that's what it wanted, food. She thought for a moment, going over to the kitchen and searching her shelves for anything to feed the animal. In one of the shelves was an untouched tin of tuna, she grabbed it. After pulling its lid off she grabbed a spoon out of one of her kitchen drawers and ate a spoon full of the tuna before shovelling the rest into a small bowl and carrying it over to the cat.

"You like fish, right?" she placed the bowl down in front of the cat who'd now moved itself onto Yako's table and after staring at the fish for a couple of seconds it dug in. Yako had only once seen food being eaten so fast and that was when she'd been eating it.

Yako watched the cat, smiling happily. She'd gotten the hang of this. Her phone made a familiar noise, indicating she'd received a text; it woke her up from her dreamy state. The blonde grabbed her phone from the arm of the couch where she'd left it yesterday and checked it.

She opened the text, expecting it to be from Kanae wanting to check up on the cat. However when she saw who it actually was from her face fell. What could Neuro want with her today? She read on. [Louse, come to the office right now.]

She looked over to the cat. "No, no, no..." Princess had knocked over her mum's favourite vase and Yako quickly examined its remains, it was completely ruined. There was no way she could leave the cat on its own, who knows what it'd get up to. She texted Neuro back. [I really can't, I'm busy.]

A moment later she got another text from Neuro. She opened it, hoping that he'd let her off today. All hope was crushed when she read the text. [You will be punished for trying to refuse orders. Tardiness will not be accepted.] She slipped the phone into her jean's pocket and hung her head, defeated.

Yako picked up the cat and left the house, struggling to lock the front door with only one hand. The cat looked around, mildly amused at the sudden change of scenery. Without another thought Yako began running toward the office building, she'd already earned herself one punishment and she didn't want to make her situation worse by being late.

The detective stood out like a sore thumb, running through the streets of Tokyo holding a cat in her arms. Yako almost collided with a couple of passersby and had to jump over a bin that had been lying on its side on the pavement, she'd been lucky not to drop the cat.

When she arrived outside the office she threw open its door without hesitation. "I'm here." Yako hadn't needed to inform Neuro of this fact as he was stood directly in front of her, a large toothy grin on his face. He slipped off his glove and held up a long, blade tipped, finger.

"Now, time for your punishment." Yako gulped.

Before Neuro could follow through with his punishment he was interrupted by a strange meowing sound that was coming from Yako's chest. He looked down from her face and saw that there was a strange animal curled up in his slave's arms.

He grabbed the animal by the scruff of its neck and held it up. "What's this?"

Yako looked from the cat, now held tightly in her bosses hand, to Neuro, scared for the creatures life. "That's a cat, Neuro." She pointed out. Neuro flashed his eyes and pinched Yako's ear with his other hand.

"I know it's a cat, slug," he twisted her ear between his fingers. "But what is it doing here?"

"Ow ow... Neuro stop!" She tried pushing his hand away with no success. "It's a cat I'm taking care of for someone..."

Neuro released Yako's ear and instead grabbed her head, pulling it closer, looking into her eyes dangerously. "I don't remember saying my servants could bring animals into my office."

Yako pushed him away, suddenly afraid for her life. "Erm, what was it you wanted me for Neuro? I don't have work today..."

Neuro gave her a blank stare, mouth open in an all too familiar smile. He took the newspaper from Godai's desk and held it up. "I've already read this. Get me a new one." He tapped her on the head with it teasingly.

"That's all?" She pressed her lips together. She had to give up her day off for this?!

"I could learn so much more about the human body if I were to take it apart and examine it from the inside." He grinned at Yako. Without saying another word Yako dashed out of the office.

Neuro walked back over to Troy, the cat swinging in his hand. He dropped Princess onto the floor and took a seat at his desk. Taking hold of the book he'd been reading earlier and scanning through it lazily.

As he read he felt something ticklish against his ankle, he looked down. The small feline had it's arms wrapped around his leg and was licking his ankle lovingly. Neuro narrowed his eyes and prodded the cat with the end of his book. "You dare treat me so casually; have you any idea who I am?" The cat looked up at him, lacking any sign of comprehension on its face. "I'm the demon who single-handedly solved all the mysteries of hell."

The cat stared at him.

Neuro decided to ignore the animal and held the book up, eyes locked on the text. He would not honour this lowly creature with his attentions. He continued to read. After a while Neuro was getting bored, Yako hadn't returned and the book he held was useless, it gave him no information about humans that he hadn't already got knowledge of. He peeked over the top of the book and was met with the cats stare again.

Stare.

The cat then licked its lips.

Neuro took the cat by its head and held it up in front of his face, leaving its body to dangle in the air. "Have I not already told you, I'm the demon who solved all the mysteries of hell. Yet you, a mortal being, is rude enough to suggest that I am food." Neuro flashed his eyes at the creature.

The door swung open. In the door way stood Yako, she was covered head to toe in mud and what looked to be dog droppings on the top of her head. In her hand was a newspaper, it stood out completely from the rest of her body since it was in fact clean. "Louse, what senseless thing have you done this time?"

Yako glared at him. "I thought it'd be quicker if I took a short cut through the park to the store. I forgot it was raining earlier. So I erm slipped on the mud..." The detective chuckled and rubbed her arm, embarrassed.

"And were there any dogs around where you fell?" Asked Neuro, smiling mischievously.

"Yes why?" Yako was confused, why would it matter whether or not there were dogs around? Neuro pointed to her head with his thumb, pupils shrinking. "Wha-, oh eww!" Yako had brushed her hand over her head and now it was covered in dog faeces.

The detective finally noticed Princess, who was hanging uncomfortably from Neuro's grip. "Neuro, you'll hurt her!" Yako rushed over and took the cat from Neuro. The animal was less than pleased to be moved from her safe environment into the dirt covered girl's arms.

Neuro glared at Yako. "Take a shower Louse, you are causing my office to smell. We'll never get any cases if you're here stinking the whole place up."

"It's not like we're going to get a case today anyway, the office is closed. Incase you forgot, I don't have work today." Yako answered.

"Stop making excuses pea-brain." He narrowed his eyes. "But, you must be used to walking around in filth. After all, that's where you louse spend most of your time." The demon smirked.

Yako's eye twitched. "Oh, is that so?"

"You'd better come back though; I still have some work for you." He grabbed Princess off Yako and grinned. "I'll see you again in twenty minutes, any later and you're chance of returning to a living cat will severely lessen. And don't even think of rushing, I don't want to smell any animal waste on you when you return." He glared at the cat to add effect.

The detective rushed to get out of the office; she couldn't risk the death of Kanae's cat. "One more thing louse..." Her head was grabbed roughly by Neuro, who had somehow gotten directly behind her. The next moment there was a cascade of white feathers being poured over her head; they stuck to the mud and covered her whole body.

When she finally could she looked up, Neuro was grinning evilly, holding an empty pillow case. "What was that for?!" Yako demanded angrily.

Neuro's eyes widened and he asked innocently. "Aren't you happy, now all the mud is covered up?"

"Yes but I look like a chicken!" Yako realised she was talking to a demon who's true form was a bird. "Uh, sorry about that, I mean, there's nothing wrong with birds." She smiled.

"Are you suggesting I have anything in common a chicken?" He glared at her.

"Well..." Yako mumbled.

"I can fly." Neuro grumbled. "Though you won't be able to walk in a minute." He squeezed her head tighter.

"Ah-ha-ha well I'd better be going, shower and all." Yako pushed his hand away and darted out of the office.

As she went she heard Neuro call after her. "You have 15 minutes left." She ran. It would be impossible, fifteen minutes to get home, have yet another shower, and get back to the office. She was covered in muck for goodness sake!

Once again Yako hoped that Neuro was bluffing.

On her way home she spotted a bike, the detective wondered whether or not she should borrow it, not for long, it'd just make her that bit faster. The idea fell flat. She was a detective after all, taking someone's bike would be against everything she stood for, something like that is only done in movies. Besides, if she got in trouble for it she'd get punished by Neuro anyway.

She past the bike quickly and didn't look back. Five minutes later she arrived at her house, and without further thought she unlocked her door and headed inside, not bothering to lock it behind her. She rushed up the stairs and into the bathroom, checking her watch as she went. Only seven minutes left, she'd never make it.

Quickly she stripped out of her muddy clothes and threw them in the sink. She filled that up with water. She'd leave them to soak overnight. Yako then stepped into the shower and grabbed the shower head, turning the water on.

The shower took her around twenty minutes in itself, it had been the most unpleasant experience of Yako's life. She never wanted to see another speck of muck again.

After another twenty minutes she had dried her hair, dressed and was ready to head back to the office. This time however she was lucky enough to spot a taxi and got a lift. It took ten minutes from her house to where Neuro was holding her friend's cat hostage.

By the time she arrived outside the office door she was already forty six minutes late. "Neuro, you haven't killed the cat have you?" She asked slowly while opening the door.

As she entered to office something fury and four-legged was thrown at her. It hit her in the stomach and she grounded in pain. Yako looked down to see what it had been and let out a scream. On the floor was a cat, and it seemed to be dead.

"Princess, are you ok?" She prodded the cat desperately.

Though, the next minute she heard a series of quiet mews. But it was not coming from the animal in front of her. She spun around and her eyes settled on another cat, exactly the same as the one that'd been thrown at her, only this one was lapping up something from a bowl and seemed completely, un-doubtfully, alive. "Princess?" She asked.

The detective looked back at the animal that was lying on the floor. She examined it closely. "Then who is?" She realised then that this creature was stuffed, it was a stuffed cat. "She quickly tossed the thing away. She heard Neuro chuckle from where he sat behind Troy.

"Neuro, that was mean. I really thought that was Princess!" She glared at him. "And, where did you find a stuffed cat that looks exactly like her?"

Her boss grinned. "Well, considering how long you took, it was easy for me to obtain one." He then frowned at her. "But really louse, I knew you'd be late, I didn't think you'd be this late. I shall have to punish you."

Yako pouted. "I think throwing a dead and stuffed animal at me was enough of a punishment."

"Enough excuses Slave." He got to his feet.

"Oh erm, I noticed that you gave Princess something to drink." She changed the subject; she was getting quite good at that.

"I found some of servant number two's beer; the animal seemed to take a liking to it." Neuro stated.

"Ah, ok." It took a moment for Neuro words to sink in. "Wait a minute. You gave it beer?! Why?" She hurried over and took the bowl away from the animal, Princess sniffed in disapproval at this.

"Is it wrong to give someone what they want?" Neuro threw back at Yako.

Yako almost face palmed if not for her fear that Neuro would cut her hand off. "Just because she likes it, doesn't mean it's good for her."

"Many creatures do things that are not good for them. In fact you are a perfect demonstration of this. The amount of food you shovel down that throat of yours is certainly not healthy." Yako had to admit, Neuro had a point.

"But, that's not the point." She answered. As if to back up Yako Princess coughed and then threw up all over the floor. "See?"

Neuro grinned. "Clean it up."


	15. Chapter Fifteen: Friendly

I do not own Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro.

And so, over the past few weeks I've been slacking off due to total lack of inspiration, ok, ok, be mad; I'm sorry though. So after getting a few reviews I decided it was about time I started a new chapter and so I gathered up all the brain power I had left, which wasn't much, and used it on this; but don't worry I'll have some more in time for the next chapter. Oh and thanks to everyone who reviewed; you're who keep me motivated. Thanks to everyone else too for taking the time to read this fan fiction.

You know what to do. At least I hope. Wait you don't know? Oh, I'm sorry; what to do is review.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Every inch of Yako Katsuragi's body was aching and she couldn't figure out how she'd managed to stay conscious through the whole school day. Neuro, the heartless demon who'd been making the detective's life hell since he'd arrived, had decided that since Yako was already cleaning up one part of the office she might as well finish the job and clean every inch of it, ceiling included. By the time Yako'd finished she was half dead, who knew trying to clean the desk, while Neuro refused to take his feet off it, could have been so challenging?

Yako dragged her legs up the stairs on her way to the office, it sucked that she had work again today, when would Neuro give her a break? She used the banister to pull herself upward. "Come on Yako, only," She counted the steps. "Only, for-ty eight? Yea, only forty eight more to go!" She tried in vain to encourage herself.

When she finally reached the office she'd run out of energy and as a result, collapsed outside of the door, it would be fine if she were to rest for only a couple of minutes, after all she deserved it, after giving up her whole weekend.

As she sat against the door, she began to massage her feet. This isn't so bad, she thought, I'll just stay here a little while longer. However, even though Yako had intended to only rest for a moment fate and exhaustion intervened. She drifted off to sleep.

Unfortunately for Yako, after only five minutes of sleep the door swung open and the detective, who'd been resting against it fell backwards and hit her head against the floor of the office, not the best way to wake up huh? Plus to add injury to insult the next moment a large foot came down onto her face. "Argh, what? Who?" Yako struggled.

Neuro looked down at her. "What are you doing down there louse?" He asked and although she couldn't see it, what with her face being squashed, she had the feeling that he was grinning.

"You stepped on me, that's what!" She grabbed his foot and tried to push it away, since it felt like it was beginning to crush her skull.

"Hm? I think you've misunderstood me, I was simply catching a bug."

"A bug? Where?" Neuro's meaning finally hit Yako. "Wait, me?! I'm not a bug you monster!" She suddenly felt like making Neuro feel guilty. "You know, I could hardly move all day thanks to you!"

Neuro grinded his foot from side to side over her face. "It's a good thing you're well enough to shout then, I wouldn't want your being ill to interfere with work." He finally removed his foot from Yako's face and reached down to pick her up by her head.

Yako was carried over to Troy and dropped onto the floor in front of it; she was relieved that Neuro wasn't standing on her anymore. Her boss was now sat at his desk reading a newspaper; weren't old men meant to read newspapers? She giggled at the thought of Neuro being an old man.

Neuro placed the newspaper down and grinned at Yako. "Something you find amusing, louse?"

"Huh? Oh, no nothing at all." The detective sniggered.

Yako stood up and made her way to the TV, switching to the news channel and relaxing on the sofa. There didn't seem to be anything of interest, something about a robbery but it didn't strike Yako as anything special. She carried on watching until the commercials came on at which point she slumped down and sighed; there wasn't anything to do. She looked over her shoulder at Neuro but still nothing had changed and he was still flipping through pages.

Just then a commercial advertising a new restaurant came up on the TV; Yako's mouth started to water. "Ooo."

"What is it dish rag" Asked Neuro.

"Eep." Yako looked up to find the demon leaning over the back of the sofa and looking down on her. "I-I I was just thinking aloud." She mumbled. He leaned closer, making her uncomfortable. "Don't you have newspapers to read?"

"I finished them." He pouted. "I was bored so I made this." Neuro held up, what looked to be, an exact model of the office building, made out of sheets of newspaper.

Yako paused, looking from Neuro, to the model and back again. He was still uncomfortably close. "You're insane!" She placed her hands on his shoulders and tried to push him away.

As Yako was trying to move Neuro out of her personal space, not exactly succeeding, the door flew open. "I think someone is trying to kill me!"

"Huh?" Yako looked away from Neuro and towards to door, there stood a girl a little older than Yako, maybe nineteen, but with the same physical build and height as the detective. The only main difference was that this girl had long red hair; it was mainly straight but spread out in ringlets toward the base. Her eyes were dark brown and wild with adrenaline and her breathing was heavy, shoulders lifting and falling as if she'd run a marathon.

"I heard from a friend that you had an office here, you are the famous high school detective right?" She didn't pause. "When I heard where to find you I ran all the way here. It started a few months ago; there were accidents, like food poisoning or heavy objects almost crushing me. I never thought them more than accidents, I know now though. Yesterday morning I was on my way to visit a friend and stopped to cross the road, while I was waiting I felt myself being pushed; a few centimetres further out and I'd have been run over. That couldn't have been an accident."

When the girl had finished talking her breathing had slowed and she took a real look at Yako and Neuro, her face went red. "Oh, I didn't realise you were so friendly with each other. I'm sorry, I should have knocked first." Yako's jaw dropped as she thought of how she and Neuro looked together, the demon leaning over her with his face close enough that she could feel his breath on her face.

"Well... actually, we were just..." She started.

The red head was equally as embarrassed as Yako and began to babble. "I mean, not that it's a surprise, sorry I meant- with you two spending so much time together; oh dear that came out wrong. What I mean is it's great that you...err... found someone detective... not that It's my business; I mean-"

Yako flushed. "He's erm, he's not my boyfriend." Neuro looked down at the detective and Yako thought, with annoyance, that Neuro was enjoying her irritation.

The blush that had started on the red head's cheeks spread down to her neck and covered her ears. "Ah... sorry, I know some people like to keep it that way, of course it's fine to be so 'close' to someone you're not dating; completely fine, yes. I mean sometimes we need to get away from all that 'dating' stuff. Oh no, I'm rambling again-."

Yako stared at her for a moment; the red head thought that Yako and Neuro were friends with benefits?! "Wait, what? No- no! Me and Neuro... there is _nothing_ going on... nothing. And I'm not into that, I mean, I would never-" Neuro grinned.

"Oh... _Oh_, I'm so sorry; I didn't mean to assume..."

Neuro stood up straight and walked over to the incomer, dragging Yako behind him. "You were saying? Sensei and I are already very intrigued with your case."

"You were on your way to visit a friend?" Neuro asked and the girl nodded her head in confirmation. "Could you tell me the name of this 'friend'?"

The red head suddenly grew uncomfortable and shifted her feet. "Why would you need to know that?"

"Just procedure" he assured her. Yako was now at her boss's side, watching him with irritation, how was it that he could always keep his cool even after something so embarrassing?

"Hisoka Okinawa" The red head answered reluctantly and Neuro nodded, thanking her.

"He's just hungry" Yako muttered.

"Sensei, have you something you'd like to share with us?" Neuro smiled _sweetly_ at Yako.

The detective narrowed her eyes at Neuro and cleared her throat. "Yes actually. Did you really not see anyone after you were pushed into the road, did anyone approach you afterward?"

The girl smiled. "I didn't see the person who pushed me, no; the crowed was too big. But afterwards a woman approached me and asked if I was alright, she seemed nice enough. She couldn't have done it.'

"I see; and did you recognise this woman from anywhere, ever seen her before."

"Not that I know of."

"Aha and did you see her after the incident at any time?" Asked Yako, getting a note pad and pen out of her school bag.

"Yes actually, she was the one who told me where to find you. After the accident she invited me out for some coffee. Of course I turned her down because I had to go and meet my friend but she insisted and so I called Hisoka to tell her that something had come up. We had a drink and I told her about what was happening to me and she suggested I should go and see you about it."

"Isn't it strange for you to turn down a friend to go for a drink with someone you'd never met before, let alone tell her about what's been going on and with the high possibility that she could be the one trying to kill you; what made you take that risk?" Yako dug further for information.

"Well, I was scared and I didn't want to walk alone after that, just in case something worse happened. I guess I went with her because she was kind to me, but as soon as I met her I trusted her, I don't know how, I just had a feeling she was a good person."

Yako nodded and scribbled various things down into her notepad. "I see, and what was this person's name please?"

"Amane Tottori"

Yako jotted this down as well and then looked up to find Neuro staring at her. He was giving her a look that said 'Well, aren't we being rather confident today.' She shook her head and looked back at the red head.

"And miss...?"

"Miko Akita"

"Miss Akita, may I ask you a few more questions not so related to the case?"

"Of course."

"Do you have any enemies?"

Miko searched Yako's face for any signs that the detective was joking and then scoffed. "Well of course not, not at all. There is nobody who would want to kill me, at least nobody_ I_ know."

"I see" Yako smiled. "And how about friends, other than Hisoka Okinawa, have you many friends?"

"Absolutely, I have always had good friends. A good thing too, sometimes you really need one, you know?"

Yako nodded and peeked up at Neuro again, he wasn't staring at her anymore which was good. Her smile widened a fraction. "And when these 'accidents' first began was there anything that could have possibly triggered them?"

"No, I don't think- Wait a minute, yes. Around the time they began my dad died, he left me a large sum in his will since I was his only remaining family."

"Aha, aha." She nudged Neuro and he looked down at her again. "So _assistant_, is there anything that I have forgotten to ask?"

Neuro shook his head and smiled, his lips lined with pure evil. "Not a single detail, as always Sensei is spot on."

When Miko had left Neuro turned to Yako. "Louse, it's getting quite hot in here is it not?"

She gave him a blank look. "What are you talking about it's perfectly fi-" Neuro had taken off his jacket and thrown it into Yako's arms. Her knees buckled at the added weight. "Jeez, Neuro; what did you put in this jacket, it's so heavy! It was definitely lighter last time."

"Silly Yako. All the fat you're gaining from eating so much must be weakening your bones." He poked her belly.

Yako's mouth hung open for a bit before she snapped it closed and glared with everything she had at Neuro. "Aren't you just in such a good mood today Neuro."

Neuro Grinned. "Of course I am, dinner is almost served."


End file.
